


Evil Author Day 2021: Opening Scenes

by IceBlueRose



Category: A Nightmare on Elm Street (Movies 1984-1994), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Crossover, Crossovers & Fandom Fusions, Evil Author Day, F/M, Gen, M/M, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 21:54:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 32,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29478768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IceBlueRose/pseuds/IceBlueRose
Summary: A series of opening scenes (sometimes maybe a first chapter) for various WIPs that I've been working. Each chapter is a different opening scene. None of these are connected to each other.
Relationships: Buffy Summers & Stiles Stilinski, Buffy Summers/Dean Winchester, Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Sara Lance/Leonard Snart, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski, Sirius Black & Regulus Black & Stiles Stilinski, Spike/Buffy Summers
Comments: 10
Kudos: 13





	1. Legends of Tomorrow: Future's Hope (Captain Canary)

**Author's Note:**

> I have a number of WIPs that I'm working on. If I'm blocked, I open another. So I thought this would be a nice way to give you guys a bit of an idea of stories that I have in the works (and to show that, no, I haven't actually stopped writing). I'll put a note at the start of each chapter that tells you a bit about what you're about to read. The title of each chapter will also give you an idea so you can decide if it's a fandom you're even interested in.
> 
> If/when I complete one of these, I'll add a note at the end with a link to the completed work.
> 
> For this chapter, it's the start of one of my Legends of Tomorrow fix its and, yes, it's Captain Canary. You're so shocked and surprised, I'm sure. I actually originally got the idea for this way back after Destiny first aired but I didn't actually write it. I started it later and then ended up working on something else and I came back to it recently so here we go!

“Central City,” Rip announced. “2023.” He looked around at the team, taking in the tired, angry, and sad looks that both Sara and Mick had worn since Leonard Snart had sacrificed himself to destroy the Oculus. Sara’s had only gotten worse once she’d found out about her sister and what the consequences of trying to save her would be.

“What are we doing here?” Ray asked. “Is there something changing in the timeline?”

Rip shook his head. “No, actually, I asked Gideon to take us to the best place in the timeline for us to take a day to get back on our feet, so to speak.” He didn’t add that Gideon had actually insisted that they needed to stop here and on this day, stating that this was the day they needed to arrive on in order to give Sara and Mick hope for the future, which would greatly improve how they were doing.

There was no argument from them—why would there be—but he did make note that Jax was looking at him as though he might have been switched out with a pod person.

“Is anyone else a little bit suspicious?” Jax muttered. Mick didn’t bother to answer, simply reached out and poked Rip to make sure he was still there. (That stunt of Rip’s _still_ pissed Mick off.)

Rip let out a breath. “Yes, Mr. Rory, I’m still actually standing here.”

Mick shrugged. “Just checking.”

Shooting him a look, Rip settled himself in the captain’s seat and motioned to the others to get in their seats, pointedly not looking at the empty seat that showed just how badly he’d failed in ensuring his team remained intact. He did, however, feel a bit lighter at the sight of Kendra and Carter, back with them again after only a few months as Mick had predicted. (The day they’d returned had been one of the few times the man had smiled as he yelled out, “I knew it!”)

The ship jumped through time and appeared in the same spot that it had back in 2016 when they’d all first joined up with Rip.

“Gideon,” Rip said as he stood. “What’s the exact date?”

“June 3, 2023, Captain,” Gideon told him. “I recommend stepping outside so as not to keep Mr. Rory waiting.”

“What?” Rip looked over to where Mick was pushing himself to his feet. “Mr. Rory is right here, Gideon.” He very much hoped that what he was thinking was wrong.

“Of course he is, Captain. I’m speaking of the Mick Rory of 2023. He is currently standing outside.”

Rip scrubbed a hand down his face. “Does the timeline just mean absolutely nothing anymore?”

“I’m pretty sure that argument went out the window the day we killed Savage,” Sara offered, one side of her mouth lifting slightly in a half smile as she turned towards Mick. “I guess you were expecting us.”

“Let’s go find out why,” Mick said.

~*~*~

“It’s about time,” the other Mick said as they walked off the Waverider. Sara tilted her head slightly, taking in the way he looked. He hadn’t changed much, she decided. She’d actually go so far as to say he looked better. “You took your time getting here, didn’t you?”

“You knew we were coming?” Stein asked.

“Gideon reminded me even though I remember the day anyway.”

Sara couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow at that as she glanced over at Mick. What, she wondered, could be so important about today that he’d still remember it in seven years?

“Why are you here though?” she asked. To most people, the question would probably have sounded rude but she and Mick had come to understand each other—maybe not as well as she and Leonard had but well enough that she knew he’d understand her meaning.

The other Mick who, she suddenly decided she was going to call Rory because this was going to get confusing fast if she didn’t, simply grinned. It was a grin she easily recognized since it was usually the one that came right before he caused trouble.

“We drew straws on who would come get you. I won.”

“So you literally drew the short straw,” Ray mused. “I’m not sure how I feel about that. Makes us sound like a chore.”

“You’ll get over it.”

Sara couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped at the look on Ray’s face and she noticed the identical fond looks that both Micks shot her. It was another look that she was extremely familiar with because it was a look that she’d gotten from Laurel all her life. 

That caused her to pause. When had Mick adopted her as a little sister?

Thinking back over their time on the ship, she came to the conclusion that it’d been a slow process from that first bar fight, had briefly stalled after he’d come back from being Chronos, and had probably become official after she’d outdrank him in the wild west. She smiled a bit more.

She could live with that.

“So, where are we going?” Jax asked, jogging to catch up to them. “I mean, it’s not like we need a tour of the city.”

Rory glanced back at Sara. “We’re going to Blondie’s.”

Sara blinked in surprise. “I live in Central City?” At his nod, she considered it. Would she really want to stay in Star City now? Of course, her dad was there and so was Team Arrow but those were about the only good things about it now. Now it was the place where both she and her sister had died from an arrow...arrows, in her case. It was the place where she’d swallowed poison to get away from the League. It was the place where she’d nearly killed Roy, where Thea had killed her. It was the place where she’d tried to kill Thea because of her bloodlust. She swallowed. “Yeah, I could see why I’d do that,” she sighed.

Kendra reached out and squeezed her shoulder in sympathy, probably realizing the same things that Sara had. “Where does Sara live?” she asked.

Rory started heading to a van parked not too far away. Sara fought back another laugh at the sight. She’d never pictured any version of Mick driving a van for anything but a robbery. Biting her lip, she silently acknowledged that maybe stopping here had been a good call; she’d already laughed more in ten minutes than she had in the last two weeks.

“Where does Sara live?” Ray asked when Kendra didn’t get an answer, curiosity getting the better of him as they all settled in the seats.

Rory grinned as he pulled on to the road. “You’ll see, Haircut.” He glanced in the rearview mirror when there was a clinking sound from the far back.

Jax glanced back. “Damn, how much beer is here?”

“I’m in charge of beer so there’s plenty,” Rory assured him.

“What’s the occasion?” This time it was Ray again and Rory just laughed and shook his head again. Sara glanced at Mick, eyebrow raised, and he shrugged. He had no idea what could possibly have made him this happy.

Mick actually looked a bit disturbed by how happy his future self was.

“It’s a birthday party,” he finally said, refusing to say anything else. Next to her, Mick froze and she glanced over, raising an eyebrow.

“What is it?” she asked, making sure to keep her voice low.

“Snart’s birthday is June 2nd,” he said softly. He couldn’t think of any other person that had a birthday around this time of year that he would be happy to celebrate. So why was he?

Sara sucked in a breath, her mind racing with possibilities. Part of her wanted to hope that Leonard was here but that was ridiculous. He’d sacrificed himself at the Oculus so how could he be here in 2023?

She knew that Rory wouldn’t answer their questions right at that moment so she looked out the window. They seemed to be heading towards the outskirts of the city, which was probably a good thing since there hadn’t been enough room for everyone in the van to sit comfortably so Kendra was in Carter’s lap in the row of seats furthest back. It would be Sara’s turn to sit on someone’s lap on the way back to the Waverider.

It was maybe fifteen minutes later that they pulled up to a large colonial style house. The driveway curved and the lawn spread from the front of the house to the back, nothing separating the two though there was a long stretch of concrete that seemed to be an expansion of the driveway. Looking passed that, Sara could see the stretch of land that seemed to be just a large clearing. It looked like it was a bit of a hike before the land ran in to the woods. 

She loved it.

It didn’t matter that she hadn’t seen anything but the outside of the front; she loved it for the location alone. Outside the city but still close enough that it wasn’t an epic journey just to go get something.

“Oh,” she breathed. Rory turned and grinned. 

“Yeah, you’ve always loved this place.”

She smiled brightly. “That won’t change.”

“It might be a bit late to point this out,” Rip said from the passenger seat. “But you do realize that we’re running the risk of literally breaking time by doing this? It’s one of the fundamental rules of time travel.”

Rory rolled his eyes. “Yeah, there were some things the Time Bastards didn’t tell anyone but their bounty hunters. And that rule about interacting with yourself? It’s bullshit. Why do you think Savage was able to go talk to himself in various times?”

Rip frowned. “I hadn’t thought of that actually.”

“You’ve said it yourself, English. Time _wants_ to happen. Savage was always meant to be killed in those three different times by the team. Sara was able to help me kidnap her younger self because it was preventing her death which meant we were preserving the timeline. The only way we break time by interacting with ourselves is if we actively try to change the events we were part of. So this? Just bringing you guys here, letting you talk to the team in the future? Ain’t anything to worry about. Matter of fact, it’s something that needs to happen in order for this future to be possible.” He smirked. “Think of it as continuing to preserve the timeline if it makes you feel better.”

Rip sighed though his lips twitched. “Yes, that does help.”

“Now get out and help me get the beer inside,” Rory ordered them. 

The team exchanged grins as the van’s door opened and then they paused as they heard the laughter and music coming from the back.

“Sounds like a damn good party, Sara,” Jax told her.

“Yeah,” Sara agreed quietly with a small smile, “it does.”

“It is,” Rory agreed. “It’s about to get better. Come on.” He picked up a case of beer and waited until Ray, Jax, and Mick had each grabbed one as well. “These go inside, then I’ll take you outside to see everyone.”

They followed him up a small set of stairs that led to a covered porch supported by four white pillars.

“Getting fancy on us,” Kendra teased Sara lightly. 

Sara scoffed. “Hardly.”

Once inside they noticed that the entryway led directly in to the living room, which had a large set of double doors that led outside. There was an archway that led in to a dining room to the right and another archway, also on the right, led in to a large kitchen and breakfast nook which then flowed in to a large family room with a fireplace. 

No one, not even Rip, could resist peeking at what they could as they followed Rory in to the kitchen. He pointed at two large coolers that were lined up against the wall of the breakfast nook.

“Put two of the cases in the red one,” he told them. “And one of you come with me. Two of these go in the extra fridge in the garage.”

Ray followed Rory through the laundry room and in to the garage, whistling when he saw the size. Though it was a three car garage, there were only two in there, which left plenty of room for storage. 

He waited until Rory had loaded the cases in to the fridge before he couldn’t contain himself. 

“Sara’s happy?” 

Rory grinned. “Happier than you’ve ever seen her, Haircut.” He clapped a hand on Ray’s shoulder and turned him back towards the door to go back inside. “Come see.”

Inside, the others had finished loading the beer in the cooler and Jax had helped himself to a soda from the other cooler it seemed. Mick was staring at the fridge, covered in magnets that had funny sayings or pictures on them, some of them holding pictures securely in place (Sara and Lisa with their arms around each other’s shoulders, grins on their faces) and others had invitations ( _Thea Queen and Roy Harper joyfully invite you to share in their happiness as they unite in marriage on Saturday, the nineteenth of August two thousand twenty-three at two o’clock in the afternoon_ and _It’s a baby! Barry and Iris would like you to come celebrate the upcoming arrival of their bundle of joy!_ ). There was also a small dry erase board with the note _Call Lisa about reveal party_ scrawled over it in Sara’s writing.

He glanced over when Sara joined him. “You got a pretty good future ahead of you, Blondie.”

Sara’s eyes took in everything scattered over the fridge, her breath hitching as she took in the wicked grin that Lisa Snart shared with her brother. Her lips curled slightly at the wedding invite from Thea and Roy. It seemed they’d eventually get there—though it was a bit of a shock since Oliver had definitely forgotten to mention that Roy wasn’t as dead as everyone believed. She had no idea who Barry and Iris were but she figured she’d find out.

“Yeah, it looks like I do.” She smiled up at him and then turned when Rory and Ray came up to them. 

“You guys get enough of staring at the fridge?” Rory asked with a smirk.

Mick rolled his eyes. “Yeah.” He glanced at Sara and Ray. “I’m annoying in the future.”

Rory snorted. “And in the past.” Before Mick could reply, Rory led them to the double doors and out on to a covered patio. The backyard was a combination of cement and grass. A volleyball net had been set up on the grass and it looked like a combination of people from the team, from Star City, and people that Sara assumed she’d meet once she moved to Central City were in the middle of a game. Even as they watched, Thea cackled when Oliver got distracted by Felicity and missed the ball.

“I assume you took forever to get the beer because of our extra guests, Mick, and not because you drove to Keystone just to buy it,” a very familiar voice drawled from their right.

Sara and Mick glanced at each other in shock even as the others seemed to freeze.

Everyone except Rory, who just shook his head. “Of course they’re the reason. Today’s the day after all,” he said, grinning at his partner.

Sara spun to the right, trying not to let the hope build too much until she saw him standing there, a small smile on his lips as his gaze shifted from Rory to her and the team.

“Leonard?” she asked softly.

“Hey, Assassin,” he said. Her breath hitched and he frowned slightly at the reaction. “Sara, what year are you from?”

She swallowed. “It’s been six months since the Oculus,” she told him. She watched as a number of emotions flickered over his face before he stepped forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

“You’ve got a bit to go before you find me again,” he said softly.

She swallowed passed the sudden lump in her throat. “But we will find you,” she said, unable to keep the slight question from her voice.

His lips twitched. “You will,” he confirmed. Leonard lifted his gaze to meet Mick’s eyes and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly. “Mick.”

Mick swallowed. “Hey, Boss.” Before Leonard could reply, Mick moved forward and yanked him into a hug.

“And we’re hugging,” Leonard muttered. Mick snorted a laugh and squeezed him lightly before stepping back.

“Shut up. You come back from the dead, you get a hug.”

“I didn’t get a hug from you when you found out I’d been dead,” Sara said, smirking.

Mick narrowed his eyes. “Fine. You die again, I’ll hug you after you come back.” No one noticed the way Leonard’s jaw clenched over that except Rip and he fought not to react.

Apparently, Mick’s words would one day come true if that reaction was anything to go by.

He could only be grateful that Sara would come back. He was already relieved that Leonard would as well, no matter how much he and the other man had butted heads at times.

“Hug time!” Ray beamed and moved towards Leonard only to stop when Leonard pointed at him.

“No,” was all Leonard said.

“Mick got to hug you,” Ray muttered.

“Mick is an exception.” 

Rory smirked. “I’m so touched, I could cry, Snart.”

Even as Leonard rolled his eyes, another very familiar voice said, “You should be more specific on which Snart you’re talking about, big guy.”

Kendra grinned brightly and glanced over at the sound of Sara’s voice. Her gasp of surprise was lost when the others made their own noises of surprise at the sight of this future version of their teammate.

“You guys look like you’ve never seen a pregnant woman before,” the future Sara said as she fought not to laugh at their reactions.


	2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Buffy's angry after being resurrected (future Spuffy)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter title is pretty self-explanatory but for a bit more detail this one was inspired by a challenge at Elysian Fields where Buffy's angry at the Scoobies after they've resurrected her and eventually she takes Spike and Dawn and gets the hell out of Dodge. The first part has dialogue from 6x02 since I'm going for Buffy starting off trying not to show she's angry but still being pissed while canon is going on.

Buffy looked through the stack of bills, making note of the ones that announced in bright red letters that this was the final notice, and she could feel the numbness that had enveloped her since coming back slowly giving way to anger. She let out a disbelieving laugh and tossed the stack onto the table with the rest of the bills and paperwork.

“Okay, so you’re telling me I’m broke?” she asked. She glanced across the table at Willow and Tara. Next to them, Xander looked like he was trying to figure out what to say while Anya was off to the side, writing something on a pad of paper. Behind them, she could see Dawn watching worriedly and Buffy took a deep breath, shoving her anger back. She couldn’t lose her temper. Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it seemed.

“Not yet but...” Willow trailed off.

“Money’s definitely becoming an issue,” Tara finished softly.

“As in your being almost out of it,” Xander said, finally speaking up.

Buffy frowned down at the bills. “But I haven’t spent any money. I was all dead and frugal.”

“I know this comes as a bit of a shock after—“ Willow cut herself off and bit her lip. “A bit of a shock. It took us by surprise too.”

_Oh, were you dead and happy and then resurrected and told you had a bunch of bills to pay too?_ Buffy thought, once more fighting not to snap at Willow as her anger swelled again.

“Your mother prepared everything really well. She had insurance.” Tara paused before adding, “Life insurance.”

“Which should have left you covered,” Xander added. “But...hospital bills.”

Willow nodded. “Pretty much sucked up all the money.” 

Except there should’ve been a nest egg still, Buffy knew. She wasn’t the smartest person in the world or anything but she’d managed to figure out that the money would last them for much longer than a few months if she set up a payment plan for her mom’s medical bills, got a part time job, and didn’t spend needlessly. She’d even been planning to talk to Dawn about it so that she’d know that they were okay but that things were going to be hard for a while until she could find something more full time.

Except it sounded like Willow and Tara had moved in and had just used that money to pay off all the medical bills then continued to stay here without contributing much because Buffy couldn’t think of another reason that the money would already be gone with not enough to cover even the most basic bills.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Anya speaking up.

“Which you’re still hemorrhaging by the way.” Anya looked over her expectantly and Buffy wondered how exactly she was supposed to respond to that.

“How am I doing that?” she settled on asking.

“No, not you. The house,” Anya clarified. “See, this house, just sitting here, doing nothing, um, by itself costs money.”

Dawn frowned. “So what do we do?”

Hoping to make the worried look in her sister’s eyes disappear, Buffy said, “Easy. We burn the house to the ground and collect the insurance.” When Dawn still continued to look worried, she added, a bit desperately, “Plus, fire? Pretty.” She huffed when everyone stared at her as if she’d lost it. “You guys, I’m kidding. Okay? It’s...it’s bills. It’s money. It’s pieces of paper sent by bureaucrats that we’ve never even met. It’s not like it’s the end of the world.” She paused and frowned. “Which is too bad, you know. Because that? I’m actually good at.” She smiled at Dawn and hoped it was even the slightest bit reassuring. “I’ll take care of this. I promise.” She looked back down at the stacks of bills. “I just don’t know how yet.”

“I know how,” Anya blurted, her voice loud from nerves. When everyone turned to look at her, she faltered slightly before continuing. “I-if you want to pay every bill here and every bill coming and have enough to start a nice college fund for Dawn?” She smiled, sure of herself. “Start charging?”

“For what?” Buffy asked, unable to hide her irritation. She really hoped Anya didn’t mean what Buffy thought she meant.

“Slaying vampires,” Anya told her. Off of Xander’s embarrassed look, she became defensive. “Well, you’re providing a valuable service to the whole community. I say cash in.” She nodded in satisfaction as everyone continued to stare at her.

Buffy counted to ten in her head because, yeah, that was exactly what she thought Anya was talking about. Still, she knew that Anya thought of things differently so she couldn’t be mad at her. She ignored that little voice in the back of her mind telling her that it was just fine to be angry at Anya. She’d helped bring her back after all and now she was telling Buffy to charge people to save their lives.

“Well,” Buffy said carefully, trying to keep her tone neutral, “that’s an idea...you would have. Any other suggestions?”

“Well, I mean, it’s...it’s not so crazy,” Anya said quietly.

That, apparently, was the last straw for Dawn. “Yes, it is! You can’t charge innocent people for saving their lives.”

“Spiderman does,” Anya pointed out.

“He does not!”

“Does too.”

“Does no—“ Dawn cut herself off and took a deep breath before she turned to Xander and looked at him expectantly. “Xander?”

Xander shifted, looking uncomfortable when both she and Anya focused on him. “Action is his reward,” he admitted reluctantly. Dawn shot a look at Anya that clearly meant I told you so.

“Why don’t you ever take my side?” Anya demanded. She glared at Xander for a moment before storming out of the house.

Xander stared in her direction, shocked. “What are you talking about? Taking your side? Anya, I am your side,” he called out, running after her.

Willow smiled in their direction then turned back to Buffy. “You’re throwing away a gold mine.”

Buffy frowned at her. “You can’t actually mean that you agree with Anya.”

She shrugged. “Well, I mean, Angel turned it into a business. Why can’t you?”

The anger that she’d been working so hard to reign in started to slip passed her walls again. “Because it’s wrong, Willow. Dawn’s right. You don’t charge innocent people for saving their lives. What am I supposed to do, ask the vampires to please stop attacking their victim for a moment then offer to save the person for a fee and if they don’t have the money, tell the vampire to have at it? And who do I charge for an apocalypse, huh? Do I just go to the mayor or the governor or hey, the president, and say ‘Hey, there’s an apocalypse about to start and if I don’t get my check, I’m letting the world end’?”

“I’m not saying that! But why not start your own detective business like Angel—“

“Because I’m not Angel, in case you haven’t noticed,” Buffy snapped. “Just because he has his business and he charges people doesn’t make it right. What about the people who don’t know about his business? Or the people who can’t afford it? Does he even patrol anymore or does he just wait for people to come to him or for the Powers to send a vision of who needs to be saved? What about everyone else?”

Before Willow could respond, Tara spoke up. “Willow, honey, if we don’t leave now, we’ll both be late to our morning class.” She glanced apologetically at Buffy when Willow nodded and stood up, frowning. 

“Right. Class.” She glanced at Buffy and then headed towards the door, picking up her bag on the way. “I’ll...I’ll see you later, guys.” She didn’t wait for a response before she walked out the door.

Tara smiled at them both. “I’ll see if I can get something for dinner. No cooking tonight,” she offered.

Buffy nodded. “Thanks, Tara.” She closed her eyes when she heard the door close and slumped slightly, wondering what she was supposed to do now. She pressed her lips together when she felt the cushion next to her dip slightly as Dawn sat down next to her.

“I could get a job,” she offered softly.

Buffy’s eyes snapped open and she turned to look at Dawn. “What?”

Dawn shrugged and looked down. “Mom had a hard enough time with the bills and that was with the gallery bringing money in. But we don’t have that anymore and Dad stopped sending child support a couple years ago.” She looked up. “When you were...gone...I used to do whatever I could to feel close to you. I’d go lay next to the bot or,” she hesitated, “I read your diary.”

Buffy figured she should probably be mad about that but she couldn’t bring herself to be. Dawn had read her diary to feel close to her while she was dead. How could she yell at her for that? Hadn’t she done the same thing with her mom’s stuff when Dawn was asleep? Looking through her stuff, trailing her fingers over her mom’s handwriting and wishing, with everything she was, that she could come home to find a note from her mom on the counter telling her she was running late but there was leftovers in the fridge or money to order pizza for her and Dawn.

She pulled Dawn into a hug and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll let it slide this time, what with the dead thing and all, but next time you do that, we’re going to have words,” she said, keeping her voice light. She smiled when Dawn let out a small laugh and nodded.

“Okay,” she muttered.

“So,” Buffy prompted, running her hand over Dawn’s hair the way their mom had done for both of them in the past. “You read my diary.”

Dawn nodded again, resting her head on Buffy’s shoulder. “I saw your plans. To sell the gallery so we’d have some breathing room and how you were going to get a part time job to build up experience and still have income while looking for something full time. And now you’re back and we don’t have the extra money you had planned for because the gallery still hasn’t been sold. Willow and Tara paid the mortgage for the house but I don’t know how because they don’t have jobs and even with them paying, we’re still at least a month behind. As for the rest of the bills? We’re constantly behind and it’s all been building up.”

“Yeah,” Buffy sighed, resting her head on top of Dawn’s so that she wouldn’t let her anger out now when the people she was angry at were gone. 

“But you’d sort of figured it out before. Payment plans and stuff. I did the math with the numbers you had and we’d have been okay. But they just used all of it to pay off Mom’s medical bills like that would take care of everything and now you have to deal with it. So I could get a job. Lots of teenagers get jobs.”

“Dawn...” Buffy squeezed her lightly. “You shouldn’t have to.”

“That doesn’t mean I couldn’t though. I could try the bookstore. Not the one at the mall but the smaller one? The one that focuses more on local authors but also sells other ones too?”

Buffy’s lips twitched and, for a moment, the anger was smothered by amusement. “Isn’t that the one where the owner brings his dog and lets him wander around sometimes?”

“Maybe,” Dawn said, stretching out the word. “But I bet he wouldn’t mind me bringing my homework with me and I could do it between customers plus, you know, dog.” She shifted until Buffy straightened then lifted her head off Buffy’s shoulder to meet her gaze. “And they’re hiring so it’s not like I’d be going in and asking out of the blue.” 

A part of Buffy felt like she should say no. Dawn was her responsibility and she should be the only one getting a job. Dawn should just be focusing on school.

But Buffy was newly alive with no money and a single parent to a teenager. And while her mom had been a single parent that had supported them, she’d had experience that allowed her to get a better job than whatever Buffy was probably going to be able to get. Buffy may have had friends that knew her situation but she didn’t think she was going to get much help from that corner though she hoped she was wrong.

Still, if Dawn wanted to work... She frowned and turned in her seat to face Dawn more fully.

“I’ll think about it,” she promised. She held up a hand when Dawn started to smile. “But first, I need to know...” She hesitated. Based on what Dawn had said, this was going to be hard for her sister but Buffy needed to know. “I need to know about what was happening here while I was dead.”

Dawn’s eyes widened. “Are you sure?” she asked. “You might not like it.”

Buffy smiled. “I know. But I think I still need to know.”

“Do you want me to tell you after school?” 

A glance at the clock told them both that if Dawn didn’t leave now, she’d be late. Buffy bit her lip. She’d insisted that Dawn go to school when she first came back so that she wouldn’t have any unnecessary absences but she had a feeling that if she asked Dawn about things when the others were around, they’d talk over her or dismiss what she said because she was a kid.

Except Dawn wasn’t a kid. She was a teenager who was already reaching the age that Buffy had been when she was first called. And if Buffy could be out in the cemeteries fighting vampires, then Dawn could be trusted to tell her the truth.

Which meant she needed to be here when no one else was.

“No,” she said. “I’m going to call you in sick.” Her lips twitched when Dawn’s eyes widened. “I don’t think the others would like what you have to say either but I want to hear it. Which means talking about it when they’re not here.”

Dawn nodded. “Yeah. Acutally...” She stood up. “I’ll start to make hot chocolate while you call.”

Buffy’s eyebrows shot up. “It’s a hot chocolate sort of conversation?”

“Yeah,” Dawn sighed. “It really is.”


	3. Supernatural/Harry Potter: Dean as Harry's Grim Reaper

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if anyone remembers but there was a challenge that a ton of fic got written for in HP fandom where Harry's Grim Reaper is on the verge of getting fired because Harry keeps dying when he's not supposed to and he also hasn't gotten together with Hermione, who is his soulmate. Well, that's what this was inspired by because I read a ton of those fics and there were some fantastic versions of Grim Reapers for Harry but I couldn't help but think "What if Dean didn't go to hell after season 3 but became Harry's Grim Reaper?" And this very short intro was born. (Yes, there's also some Buffy/Dean implied here.)

Dean Winchester didn’t mind being a grim reaper most of the time. After all, if he weren’t a reaper, he’d have been in hell. Literally. But since Sam had managed to break Dean out of the deal that said he had to go to hell for all eternity (though not the part where he had to die in order for Sam to live), Dean had gotten the chance to become a grim reaper.

Once he was dead, he was able to remember Tess and so he’d been skeptical but rather than become a reaper for his world, he’d been sent back in time and to an alternate dimension (so to speak—grim reapers basically existed out of time and could travel between all dimensions but that was the easiest way for Dean to think of it) where he’d become the grim reaper for the Potter family and those that were their actual friends and allies over the years.

Which led him to this moment and one of the few times he was regretting saying yes to this damn job.

“You’ve got to be kidding me, damn it,” he groaned, swiping a hand down his face as he glanced back at Tara Maclay, who smiled and shook her head as if to say _sorry, but no, not kidding_. He swore and turned around to find Harry Potter still sitting there and not just a figment of his imagination. “You couldn’t just stay alive, could you, kid? No, you had to up and die again. How hard is it to not stop breathing? Christ.”

“What—“

Dean cut Harry off before he could continue. “I mean, seriously, dude, what the hell were you thinking? Hell, what was I thinking, becoming the reaper for your family and friends? Your parents never gave me this issue, you know that? There was literally one incident with your dad and that wasn’t even his fault, it was that worthless healer who didn’t know what he was doing. You know I got offered a chance to have Tony Stark as my client? But did I take it? No, I thought it’d be awesome to see witches and wizards that didn’t get their powers from demons and now Buffy’s the one that’s watching out for fucking Iron Man. Which she rubs in my face whenever she can because that’s what Buffy does. If she weren’t so damn flexible...well, that’s not the point.”

“What is the point, exactly?” Harry asked, irritated.

Dean raised an eyebrow, completely unimpressed. “The point,” he said, “is that you’re dead. Again. I don’t know why you seem to hate life so damn much but we’re going to have to take care of this and that means I’m going to have to do paperwork which means I’m going to get angry and you won’t like me when I’m angry.” He paused and then shook his head when Harry didn’t seem to get the reference. “Paperwork’s a bitch and you cause me to do more of it than anyone else ever has, kid.”


	4. Legends of Tomorrow: Ghost!Leonard (Captain Canary)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is going to be a long one. So far, I'm about 40 pages into this one and I'm partially through the season 2 premiere. There's plenty of dialogue from the show on here but there'll be original stuff in here too since this is essentially Leonard as a ghost stuck on the Waverider and being the peanut gallery to things happening on the ship. Obviously, he won't know about anything happening on missions unless it's mentioned but otherwise, you can expect Leonard to have some things to say. It'll diverge from canon after 2x11 though.

After the Oculus, he’d opened his eyes to find himself staring at the ceiling in his room on the Waverider. The fact that he was around to open his eyes at all had been a surprise but it wasn’t one Leonard was going to argue with.

Except then he’d walked up to the door of his room and tried to open it and nothing had happened. He’d asked Gideon to open the door and nothing had happened. He’d shouted at Gideon and _demanded_ the door be opened. 

Nothing.

And then he’d turned to grab something to throw at the door, hoping that it would trigger the door somehow, and his hand had gone through the book that had been there. Through the deck of cards. Through the notebook he’d been using to write down various plans.

To stave off the panic building in him, he’d taken a deep breath (and wasn’t that strange, taking a deep breath when he didn’t need to breathe since he was apparently a ghost) and decided to see if he could leave the room by walking through the door instead of opening it.

It had worked and part of him had wanted to celebrate. The other part of him was a mix of anger and grief because, damn it, for just a few minutes he’d had hope that the team had pulled off a last minute rescue at the Oculus and gotten him out. Instead, he was dead and a ghost and back on the Waverider rather than whatever happened to a person in the afterlife. Sara had never told him what that was like, only what she had felt like when she died.

_“You know, it’s funny. I mean, you’d expect it to be terrifying, just panic and fear.”_

_“What’d you feel?”_

_“I guess...lonely. Yeah. Like everybody I loved was a million miles away.”_

She hadn’t been wrong on that. He wondered what the afterlife had been like for her. She’d admitted during one of their talks that her sister and their ex had gone in to the underworld to get her soul back after she’d been brought back. Which meant she hadn’t been wandering around her city as a ghost.

So why was he wandering around the ship instead of the underworld or wherever? 

He frowned as he headed for the bridge, lost in thought. Most likely, he decided, it was because of where he’d died. He didn’t know though. 

Leonard hated not knowing.

He paused when he got to the bridge. Mick was leaning against the console, his expression blank as he stared forward. Jax was in one of the seats, looking down, while Stein stood behind him, staring ahead at the wall. Ray was standing there, still in his suit. Leonard looked passed Mick to find Sara sitting with her mouth pressed against her clasped hands, eyes brimming with tears and jaw clenched in an effort to keep them from spilling. Rip was nowhere to be seen.

Leonard let out a breath as he looked between Mick and Sara.

This...they’d barely left the Oculus if he was reading them right. But judging by the expressions on everyone’s face, it was long enough to know what had happened with him and he was honestly a bit surprised by their reactions. Mick he could have predicted. And he had known Sara had felt something for him even if they’d danced around the subject with innuendo and challenges most of the time. Maybe even Jax since they’d warmed up to each other after he’d saved the kid’s life. But he was surprised by the sadness he could see on Stein’s face and the mixture of emotions on Ray’s. Maybe, he thought as he remembered Stein calling him heroic (ugh), he shouldn’t have been.

“He traded his life for ours. He was a hero,” Ray said suddenly, voice choked. His lips quirked up in a sad smile. “Which I’m pretty sure is the last thing he wanted to be remembered as.”

“But that’s what he was,” Sara said quietly. Leonard turned just in time to see her tears finally spill over and his fingers curled with the need to do something as he watched her hastily swipe a hand under her eyes.

“I’m not,” he objected softly. It didn’t matter that they couldn’t hear him. He couldn’t bring himself to speak any louder than Sara had. He let out a breath and figured he might as well say it. It wasn’t like anyone could hear him talking about his feelings after all. “I’m not, Sara. All I wanted was to save Mick. I didn’t want to let him down again. I wanted to save you. I wanted the two of you to get out of there. I didn’t want to deal with a world where either of you were gone. I wanted Lisa to be free. I’m not a hero, Sara. I was just being selfish.”

He watched as the team split up, going their separate ways. He was tempted to follow Mick or Sara but he turned towards the cargo bay instead. Rip hadn’t been on the bridge or in his office or anywhere that Leonard could see. If he was planning something though, he was probably off on his own and even if Leonard couldn’t contribute to the plan, he wanted to know what it was.

It didn’t take long to find the man. Rip was sprawled at the bottom of the steps where Leonard and Sara liked to sit when playing cards. He looked...defeated. Resigned. Like he’d known that something was going to go wrong.

“Gideon?” Rip said, staring at the floor.

“Yes, Captain?”

“Would you please review the timeline for me?” he asked quietly.

“There is no timeline data due to the destruction of the Oculus.”

“Yeah,” Leonard drawled from the step above Rip. “Sorry about that.”

“We’re sailing without a map,” Rip realized. “Would you please...review news accounts from 2166 then?” He let out a shaky breath. “You know what I need to find out.”

There was a pause and then, “I’m sorry, Captain. News accounts from 2166 confirm that Vandal Savage has already succeeded in murdering Miranda and Jonas.”

“I’m sorry,” Leonard repeated, more sincerely than he had before as Rip’s eyes closed. He stared at Rip for a few moments and then stood, leaving the man to grieve alone.

Leonard hadn’t gotten very far down the hallway when he saw Sara. He swallowed and took in the way she seemed to be bracing herself as she stood outside the door that led to Leonard’s room.

“Gideon?” she asked. “Could you...” She trailed off and closed her eyes.

“Of course, Ms. Lance.” 

Leonard followed Sara in to his room and watched, leaning against the wall, as she trailed her fingers over the things on his desk before she turned to look at his bed. They’d spent many a night on either his or her bed, playing cards together. 

She let out a shaky breath and turned back to the desk, her fingers tracing the edges of the cards for a few moments before she closed a hand around the deck, picking it up and staring at it. Turning, she leaned against the desk and lifted her eyes towards the bed again, automatically turning her gaze to Leonard’s usual spot. 

Sara closed her eyes against the tears that welled up for the second time that night. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m sorry for leaving you behind.”

Leonard raised a hand, stopping just before he normally would have been able to touch her cheek. “Didn’t give you much of a choice.”

Her lips pressed together and he wondered if she was thinking of those last moments together before she’d gotten Mick back to the ship. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t just tell you I’d been thinking about a future with you too.” Her voice broke on the last word and she covered her mouth with her free hand, her fingers curling in to a fist as her shoulders shook. 

Leonard closed his eyes at that and shook his head. They’d wasted so much time. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner,” he told her. He opened his eyes seconds before she did and watched as she took a few deep breaths before lowering her fist, fingers straightening as she did so. He could practically see her trying to build up her walls again. 

She took one last shaky breath and walked out of the room, heading straight for her own.

Leonard debated following her for a few moments before he shook his head and turned to go find Mick. He needed to check on his partner.

It didn’t take him long to find Mick. He’d known exactly where the man was going when he’d seen the direction Mick had gone in earlier and he headed there now, not bothering to pause to see what Ray was looking at on the console. Leonard leaned against the wall next to the door that led in to the kitchen and watched as Mick stared at the ring he’d managed to slip in Mick’s pocket.

“Was wondering how quickly you’d find that,” he admitted. “Figured you were the best person to give it to, all things considered.” He glanced over when he heard footsteps and sighed as Ray appeared.

Mick didn’t even look up. “Get out. I want to be alone.” 

Ray ignored him. “Gideon has confirmed that the Oculus has been destroyed,” he said, rounding the counter and moving to stand across from Mick. “From here on out, it’s tabula rasa.”

“Pretend, for a minute, that I don’t speak Greek,” Mick said.

“Latin,” Ray corrected automatically. He paused at the look Mick gave him. “Sorry. From this point forward, our actions are our own. We have free will.”

Mick glared at him. “That supposed to make me feel better?”

Leonard raised an eyebrow in surprise when Ray refused to back down and, instead, stared right back at Mick, crossing his arms. “Yes. It means that Leonard didn’t die for nothing,” he said.

“Good. I’d have been pissed if it hadn’t worked and I was a ghost for no reason,” Leonard muttered. He tensed when Mick gestured at the ring.

“He planted that on me before it happened,” Mick explained when he caught Ray looking at it.

“I’m sorry, Mick.”

Mick shook his head. “I killed Declan, Druce is dead. The Time Masters have nothing now that their ship was completely destroyed.” He curled his hand in to a fist and he stared down at it. “Yet I still feel a need to kill someone for Snart.”

Ray studied Mick for a few moments before speaking. “Savage still has Carter and Kendra.” 

Mick’s jaw ticked and he looked up at Ray, a sharp smile on his face. “He’ll do nicely.”

Leonard watched in approval as Mick tossed his beer bottle in the trash and stood up. He smirked. “Give him hell, partner.”

“Mr. Rory, Dr. Palmer,” Gideon said. “Captain Hunter has asked that the team report to the bridge for a time jump.”

Mick and Ray exchanged a surprised look. “I didn’t think he’d figure out Savage’s next move so quickly,” Ray said.

“Neither did I,” Mick agreed. “But I ain’t complaining. Let’s go, Haircut.”

Leonard frowned as he watched them go.

_Alexa._

~*~*~

Leonard watched as Rip entered his office and then came back out a few minutes later, slipping his hand in to his pocket, before he followed the rest of the team down the ramp. Frowning, he walked to the entrance and tried to follow the team. However, once he got to the ramp, it was as if he bounced off a clear wall. He threw his head back in aggravation.

“Are you kidding me?” he demanded. “I can’t even leave the ship?” He stared at where the team seemed to be getting in to an argument with Rip and spun around as the ramp began to close. If he couldn’t leave the ship, he’d go see if he could figure out what Rip had been slipping in to his pocket. His steps faltered when he heard Jax’s voice coming from the bridge. He sped up.

“You sneaky son of a bitch,” Leonard breathed when he walked back on to the bridge and saw Rip settling in to his chair. He glanced out the window at the other Rip and took in the looks of anger and disbelief on the team’s faces. “You guys are about to get much more pissed off, trust me.” 

“Okay, wait, why?” Sara asked. “Why the change of plans, Rip?”

Leonard looked out the window, taking in the details of her and Mick. He...cared...about the others, sure, he could admit that to himself. But Mick and Sara were the two on this team that meant the most to him and if he couldn’t leave this ship and if Rip was about to do what he suspected, it would probably be a very long time before he saw them again, if ever.

“If you get back on that ship, we get back on that ship,” Mick told Rip, reaching out to poke him. Rip’s image flickered and he watched as they all jerked back in surprise.

“In truth, I never left it,” Rip confessed. “I’m sorry for all that I’ve asked of you and that it all came to nothing.” The ship began to ascend. “I wish you all well.” 

“I don’t like you,” Leonard said to Rip as the ship took off.

Of course, once they were gone from Star City, Rip didn’t seem to be doing much. He’d ordered Gideon to search for Savage and he’d even made a few half-hearted attempts at trying to figure it out himself but it was as if the man had given up. Leonard crossed his arms and glared at the man.

“I can’t believe you’re giving up,” he snapped as if Rip could hear him. “And don’t act like that’s not what you’re doing, Rip. You didn’t manage to save your family and now you’re just going through the motions on trying to find Savage.” He scoffed and walked away, wandering down to his room. Nothing was different in there, not that he’d been expecting it to be, so he moved on to the next room. He paused once he was inside. Most of Mick’s stuff was still in there. The only things missing were their guns. He hadn’t seen Mick take them off the ship but they had been in the room earlier so he must have taken them with him somehow. He walked out and then went in to Sara’s room and frowned. Her things were still there too. The deck of cards was on the desk next to a picture of her and her sister, Laurel. A whet stone and a few knives were there as well.

“Couldn’t even let them take their things or find a way to drop it all off before you left, huh?” he muttered. He knew for a fact that Jax kept a picture of his parents on their wedding day, Stein had a picture of his wife, and Ray still had a picture of Anna (hidden after he and Kendra had gotten together). Mick liked to make snide remarks about not having anybody but Leonard had seen a picture of the two of them with Lisa from nearly ten years ago sticking out of the latest book he’d been reading.

If Rip wasn’t going to go back for the team, he better damn well get their stuff back to them.

Rather than dwell on it, Leonard went back to the bridge. If he kept thinking about it, he was going to get even more pissed off than he already was.

However, once he walked in to Rip’s office, his plans to snark at the man were derailed as he watched the message from Rip’s family play and then begin to repeat. It was after his second time watching it with Rip that Gideon interrupted.

“Captain, I’m sorry to interrupt.”

Rip turned off the recording. “Tell me you’ve located Savage.”

“No, but we have received a transmission from 2016 Star City.”

Leonard grinned and then laughed at the look on Rip’s face. “Serves you right for recruiting people more stubborn than you, Rip.”

Things just became interesting again.

~*~*~

Leonard’s eyebrows shot up as he watched the team follow Rip on to the bridge. While the others looked determined, Sara was furious. Oh, she hid it well enough that Rip didn’t seem to be picking up on it and Ray, Stein, and Jax were all fully focused on Rip. Mick, on the other hand, seemed to have figured it out and kept ticking his eyes back to Sara.

Rip didn’t look at all pleased as he stormed towards the office. “Despite my wishes to pursue Savage alone, it seems that you’re all intent on seeing this thing through till the bitter—“ His voice cut off as he turned only to be met with Sara’s fist slamming in to his cheek.

Mick looked amused though anyone that knew him (which Leonard figured meant him and that’s it) could see the concern and lingering grief and anger hidden beneath Mick’s smirk. “Oh, speaking of bitter,” Mick said as Sara threw Rip against the wall and put a knife to his throat.

“You knew,” she snapped. “You dropped us off five months later because you knew.”

“Knew what?” Rip asked.

“You knew that Laurel was going to die and now you’re going to take me back and I’m going to save my sister.”

Even the attempt at amusement faded from Mick’s face at that and Leonard knew the feeling. He pushed away from the wall that he’d been leaning against and stared at Rip. “You can’t be serious,” he said. “You dropped them off five months later? After her sister died?” He thought of what he’d do if it were Lisa and glanced at Mick. “Help her with this one, Mick. Come on.”

“I’m afraid that that—“ He let out a strangled noise, cutting himself off this time as she pressed the knife against his neck a bit more firmly.

“You should be afraid,” she said.

“I can’t allow you—“

“I don’t care about the timeline,” Sara snapped at him. “You’re taking me back now.”

Ray moved forward. “Look, Sara, I’m sure there’s a valid reason why Rip didn’t—“

Sara glanced back at him. “Stay out of this!”

“Damn it, Sara, rookie mistake,” Leonard muttered. Then again, it was obvious that she wasn’t focused. She was grieving and angry and the only thing she did know was that there was a way to go back to save her sister. He swore when Rip used that damned flashy toy of his to knock her out, nodding gratefully at Mick when he caught Sara and swung her over his shoulder.

Not the way he’d have caught her but at least she wasn’t on the floor.

“What the hell, Rip?” Jax demanded. 

“Exactly, kid,” Leonard agreed.

“Mr. Rory, take Ms. Lance to sleep it off,” Rip said. Mick stared at him for a moment, expression hard, and then turned and walked away, heading towards the personal quarters. When the rest of the room began to talk about Savage instead of finding out why Rip wasn’t going to let Sara go back, Leonard followed Mick. He entered the room to find Mick carefully setting Sara on the bed.

“Rest, Blondie,” he muttered. “Boss would hate to see you like this.” Mick glanced away, his eyes settling on the picture of Sara and Laurel that was on her desk and his eyes softened slightly, his shoulders dropping. He sighed and turned to glance back down at her, squeezing her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Sara.”

When he left, Leonard stayed, settling on the foot of the bed. He wasn’t sure why he could sit on things when he couldn’t pick things up but he wasn’t going to complain. Leonard clenched his jaw as he looked down at Sara. She was still in the same clothes she’d been wearing when she left the ship so it had probably been less than a day since Rip had dropped them off but even when she was unconscious Leonard could see the difference in her. 

He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms, moving his eyes away from Sara and to her desk, studying the picture as he waited for Sara to wake up.

It took a bit. He figured that Rip and the others were figuring out when and where Kendra and Carter were and how to get to them. Leonard glanced over when he heard Sara begin to move and he wished he could reach out to her when he saw her press her hands against her face. She took a deep breath and then pushed off the bed and began to pace. She’d only gone a few times around the room before the picture on the desk caught her eye and her face crumpled as she dropped down on the edge of her bed.

Leonard moved so that he was sitting next to her and turned to stare at her. “I’m sorry, Assassin,” he said softly. Not that apologies would do much for her since she couldn’t hear him or feel him. 

Gideon must have alerted Rip that Sara was up because it was only a minute later that the sound of the keypad beeping came, the door sliding open a moment later to reveal Rip looking cautious as he stepped forward.

“Please try very hard not to kill me,” Rip said as he entered the room, the door closing behind him.

Sara looked up at him and Leonard clenched his fists at the sight of her tear-streaked face and red eyes. “Rip,” she said, voice choked as she tried to hold back her tears again. “Please take me back. I need your help. I need to save my sister.”

“And you know that I would do this for you, Sara, but I just can’t,” Rip told her.

Sara shoved herself off the bed and moved so that she was standing only a few steps away from him. “I’ve not asked you for anything. And you, of all people, should understand. You have tried everything,” she said. “We...we have tried everything to save your family.”

Rip stared at her, a look of complete understanding on his face. “And I would not wish the pain of that failure upon anyone.”

Sara shook her head in denial. “I would rather live with that pain than this.”

“And that’s just the thing, Sara,” Rip pushed passed her and then spun to face her, “Look, if you were to go to try and save Laurel then you wouldn’t be alive at all.”

“Then fine,” Sara said recklessly, throwing her hand out to the side. “I don’t care.”

Leonard shoved himself off the bed and moved towards her. “No,” he told her. “Don’t talk like that, Sara. You think your sister would want that?”

“When we left, when I recruited you, we...we...we altered the timeline,” Rip confessed. “Now had it remained the same then Damien Darhk would have...” He took a deep breath. “He would have killed not only you and...and your sister but your father as well.”

Leonard closed his eyes and shook his head, feeling sick at the thought of what that timeline would be like. And he knew that Rip had won this argument. Sara would risk herself without a second thought but she wouldn’t risk her father. He knew that.

She shook her head. “But, Rip, if...if we go back and we take the team...” She trailed off, looking at him expectantly.

“The outcome would be exactly the same,” Rip told her.

“You don’t know that,” Sara denied.

“I’m afraid that I do.”

“But you don’t,” Leonard objected. “If the team goes but Sara stays then Darhk doesn’t get the chance to touch her. Then you just need to worry about protecting her dad and that’s easy enough—all you have to do is get him out of there before you go in.” He didn’t know the details obviously but it was something they could plan, he was sure.

“No. I...” She shook her head and Leonard watched as she began to break down again. “There’s got to be a way.” She moved passed him and stared blankly at the bed for a moment before spinning to face him. “Rip, I have to be able to do something.”

“I’m so sorry,” Rip breathed. Leonard studied him and nodded as he took in the sincerity in Rip’s expression before he turned and focused on Sara again. She’d lowered herself to the step in front of the bed and, once again, Leonard silently raged at the fact that he couldn’t do anything as she cried.

“Look,” she said, voice choked as she looked up at him. “I can’t...I can’t do this without my sister. I can’t.” 

“Yes, you can,” Rip told her, crouching down in front of her. He wrapped his hands around her wrists and pulled her hands down, away from her face so that he could look her in the eye. He pressed his forehead against hers for a few moments then pulled back and raised a hand to her face to wipe away her tears.

“Hands to yourself, Captain,” Leonard muttered as Sara shook her head and turned her face away, torn between grateful that someone was able to do something for Sara and pissed that it was Rip and not him.

Rip kept his eyes on Sara’s when she turned back to him. “You are one of the strongest people I have ever met, Sara.” He took a deep breath. “Laurel...Laurel may be beyond your saving but Kendra and Carter? They might not be.”

“Captain, we are prepared to make the time jump to 1944,” Gideon interrupted.

Sara stayed silent for a few more seconds before scrubbing her hands over face in an effort to erase the evidence she’d been crying. “We’re on our way, Gideon,” she said quietly, pushing passed Rip and leaving the room. 

Rip closed his eyes and tilted his head down, scrubbing a hand over his eyes tiredly before he followed her.

~*~*~

Leonard wasn’t sure what the hell had gone down in 1944 since he’d been in Rip’s office trying to figure out a way to communicate with the team but it definitely hadn’t gone to plan (what a shock) because they’d come back with Carter but no Kendra.

“Great,” he muttered, sprawling in the same spot he had when Sara had gotten annoyed by the way he’d been tapping his ring. “You’re the less useful Hawk.” Sure, the guy could kill Savage as much as Kendra could but there was just something about him that bugged Leonard. Kendra might not have been able to follow through on killing Savage but it hadn’t been because of lack of skill. Between her memories and training with Sara, Kendra had gotten the drop on Savage. 

It just turned out that Savage had already known exactly what buttons to push so that she wouldn’t finish it. She’d kept him alive because he’d claimed to be the key to bringing back Carter’s memories but it wasn’t as if she’d even talked to Savage about how to break his hold on Carter except for maybe once. Instead, she’d sat there reading poetry to Carter and talking to him while Savage took the chance to mess with people’s heads any time they went to the brig to talk to him until he’d manipulated Ray in to opening the cell door, leaving them with no choice but to fight him. 

Which was just as bad, Leonard thought, unable to keep himself from feeling a bit resentful as he remembered hearing about how Savage had gotten the upper hand on Kendra that time. If she’d just killed the bastard when she’d had the chance, then they wouldn’t have had to worry about it, Jax wouldn’t have nearly died from radiation poisoning, and they wouldn’t have had to go to the Vanishing Point and Leonard _wouldn’t be dead._

Of course, then the Oculus wouldn’t be destroyed and the Time Masters would still be pulling their strings.

Damn it.

He blew out a breath and tried to let go of his resentment. They were free at least. And from all the nerd talk going on, they were getting closer to figuring out how to defeat Savage.

He hoped.

~*~*~

The plan was just as unexpected and crazy as the plan to take down the Time Masters, Leonard decided, as he listened to the team go over how to kill Savage three times at the exact same time at different points in history—something he was pretty sure was straight out of _Star Trek_.

Hopefully it would work out better though.

As much as he hated that no one could see him, he wasn’t sure what he’d do if Mick or Sara or one of the others suddenly joined him.

But he knew it wouldn’t be pretty.

He paced as they dropped each team off. Sara and Firestorm in Norway 1975, Mick and Ray in Harmony Falls 1958, and Rip and Carter in St. Roch 2021.

He wished he could ask Gideon to bring up footage of Sara and Mick but he’d had to settle for pacing and muttering about the fact that Rip had parked the Waverider in a spot where he couldn’t see what the hell was going on with him and Carter.

Leonard paused and glanced up when he heard something land on top of the Waverider.

“What the hell?” he muttered.

Rip’s voice suddenly sounded. “Gideon, would you mind giving me a lift?”

Leonard snorted. “Someone’s watched _Back to the Future II_ a few too many times,” he said as the Waverider began to rise with Rip on its roof. He smirked when he saw Kendra free and standing next to Carter and nodded when the two exchanged a glance then launched themselves onto the lower level of the roof at Savage even as Rip joined them. “Much better.” 

He watched as Kendra and Carter teamed up against Savage and he just knew that it would be Sara and Mick that were fighting Savage in 1975 and 1958. Sprawling in his usual seat, he began to bounce his knee as he thought about it. Mick and Sara were two of the best fighters he’d ever known but Savage had 4,000 years of experience on them.

Of course, the man seemed to have spent most of that moving in the shadows but it was still enough to make him worry.

Leonard let out a breath as Carter managed to pull Savage’s arms behind him as Kendra approached him, pulling out the dagger that they’d stolen from Savage months ago.

There was a look of grim triumph on Kendra’s face. “Goodbye, _my love_ ,” she said, raising the dagger high before plunging it into Savage’s chest.

Leonard allowed himself to smile at the sight. 

And then Rip was there, yanking Savage off of his knees. “Ah, you can feel it can’t you?” he asked, satisfied. “Things are different this time.” He put his hand on the dagger in Savage’s chest as if to hold it in place—or maybe press it a bit deeper, Rip could be vindictive. Not that Leonard would begrudge him that. “You’re mortal.”

“And yet,” Savage said, teeth bloody, “my death does not save the lives of your family. I may die but you will live knowing that you failed to save the lives—“

Rip cut him off with a shout, shoving him backwards and Leonard raised an eyebrow at the sight of Savage being electrocuted. 

“Never,” Rip snarled, “say their names again.”

“Well, that works too,” Leonard said as Savage’s body dropped. “Now let’s hope everyone is getting rid of their meteorites.” He paused when he felt the Waverider moving and then, suddenly, the all too familiar feel of a time jump. “I guess I’m about to find out.”

He’d known that Gideon would leave to pick up the others as soon as Savage was dead in 2021 after hearing Rip give Gideon instructions to do so and then return seconds after leaving. He smirked when Mick and Ray walked onto the bridge.

“Ah! First ones to be picked up,” Mick said.

“Indeed, Mr. Rory,” Gideon replied. “You were successful?”

“Beat him up and set him on fire,” Mick told her, waving his gun slightly. “Haircut took care of the meteorite.”

“Excellent. Then strap in, gentlemen. We’re headed to 1975 next.”

“You think they did it?” Ray asked.

“You honestly questioning whether Blondie failed to take out Savage?” Mick countered. At that, Ray paused and then grinned.

“Yeah, dumb question.”

“No kidding,” Leonard said. “Sara might be trying to...refrain from killing people now but Savage is going to get the full brunt of her anger at not being able to save her sister. He’s definitely dead.”

It took less than a minute for them to land in 1975 and Leonard allowed himself to smile when he heard Sara’s voice followed by Jax.

“Aw, man, you got my boots wet.”

“We did it, man! Gideon, take us back to Rip,” he said, showing the complete faith he had that the plan had worked. A few seconds later, Sara and Firestorm walked in.

“Well?” Mick prompted, grinning.

Sara had a small satisfied smile on her face. “It’s been a long time since I’ve snapped a man’s neck. Felt good.”

“Uh, Sara?” Ray said.

She rolled her eyes. “Because it was Savage, Ray.”

“Right. Got it.”

“When you say it’s been a long time, how long are we talking?” Mick asked as Sara settled in her usual seat. 

She glanced over, her eyes pausing briefly on Leonard’s usual seat before focusing on Mick. “New York City, 2011. I pretended to be an escort to get into his hotel room and then once I’d gotten the information I needed, I snapped his neck. Got out of there and into the suite a few over where Nyssa was waiting for me by using the balconies each room had.”

“You and Nyssa went on missions together?” Ray asked. 

Sara shrugged. “We did that time. It was our anniversary.” Leonard snorted in amusement, smirking at the answer. As Mick laughed, she said, “Gideon, I think it’s about time we get back to 2021.”

“As you wish, Ms. Lance,” Gideon said. 

One time jump later and they were landing on the same roof where Rip, Kendra, and Carter were. He watched through the window as the team made their way to where Rip was hunched over.

“Damn it! I wanted to kill him,” Mick said. He grinned. “Again, I mean.”

The smirk that had started to appear on Leonard’s face, disappeared when Sara made her way over to the meteorite that was beginning to light up. “Uh, I don’t think our problems are over yet,” she said, drawing their attention to the brightening blue glow.

Firestorm dropped down from where he’d been hovering. “I’m on it.” He slammed his hand against the meteorite and Leonard frowned as nothing seemed to happen.

“On what?” Mick asked, looking unimpressed.

Firestorm shook his head. “It’s not working.”

Ray ripped off the side of the crate. “I got this.” He raised his arm and shot a laser at the meteorite only for it to die a few seconds later. Ray smacked his arm gauntlet. “I don’t understand. I must be out of power?”

“What happens if only one of these goes off?” Sara asked.

Rip stared at the meteorite. “Time will remain intact,” he glanced at each of them, “The world? Not so much.”

Even as the team looked back at the meteorite, Rip was moving. Leonard frowned as he watched the man come running back towards the Waverider.

“Are you doing what I think you’re doing, Rip?” he asked as Rip came flying onto the bridge and threw himself into the captain’s seat.

“Gideon, we’re going to grab that meteor and then I’m going to need you to chart a course,” he said.

“Of course, Captain. Where to?” Gideon asked.

Rip blew out a breath. “The sun.”

Leonard stared at Rip. “You’re insane.”

Outside, Firestorm looked ready to grab the meteorite. “Okay, guys, let’s fly this thing out of here.”

Kendra shook her head. “To where? We would never it far enough away.”

“Maybe the Waverider can,” Ray suggested. “Rip, we need—Rip?”

The Waverider lifted into the air and turned to face the team as Rip shoved himself out of his seat and jogged over to the console he needed.

“Rip,” Sara said, “what are you doing?”

“I’m flying the Waverider into the sun with the meteor on board,” Rip told her.

“Because he’s insane,” Leonard added despite the fact he knew Sara couldn’t hear him.

“And you on it!”

Rip stared down at the console even as the Waverider left the Earth’s atmosphere. “I guess this is goodbye.”

Ray’s voice was slightly choked up as he spoke. “It’s been a pleasure, Captain.”

“Likewise, Dr. Palmer.”

“But you brought us into this, man,” Jax protested.

“Which is why I’m doing this alone, Mr. Jackson. I’ll have no one else die for my choices.”

“I died on my own terms, Rip,” Leonard snapped.

“This isn’t going to bring Snart back,” Sara told him, voice slightly hoarse. Leonard closed his eyes. They never used first names in front of the others but that didn’t hide how upset she was and he hated it.

“I don’t want to lose another friend,” Mick added quietly and Leonard swallowed hard, clenching his fists as he felt his throat get tight. Mick and Lisa had always been the two who could get him to actually show his emotions though it hadn’t taken long for Sara to get herself added to that very short list.

He watched as Rip smiled slightly. “I appreciate that, Mr. Rory,” he said. Sparks flew as the ship began to shake. “I must say, it’s been an honor to serve as your captain.”

Midway through that final word, static filled the air and Leonard knew that communication with the others had been lost. He squinted as Rip closed his eyes and lifted a hand as the bridge began to light from the sun. Around them, pieces of the ship began to fall from the ceiling and the walls. Rip looked as if he was unconscious and Leonard closed his eyes, thinking of Lisa.

He thought of the baby that he’d been terrified to hold but determined to protect, the baby he’d taught to walk and talk, the little girl that had run to him for a hug whenever she fell down while playing and crawled into his bed when she had nightmares, the little girl he’d tried and failed to keep away from Lewis and his fists, the teenager that had followed him on a heist because she didn’t trust anyone he’d been working with at the time to have his back, the teenager that had wanted to go to school dances no matter how hard she tried to hide it, the woman that had become as fiercely protective of him as he was of her and who always hugged him by throwing her arms around him like it might be the last time they’d see each other.

Another explosion rang out and Leonard’s eyes snapped open at the sound of Rip’s voice.

“I—where—“

“I’m still here, Captain,” Gideon said.

“I know you are, Gideon,” Rip assured her.

Leonard watched as the hologram of the featureless face appeared above the center console the way it had on their very first trip.

“May I share something with you?” she asked. “I’m not ready to die.”

Rip’s head lifted. “Me neither. Which reminds me...is our solar ray still functional?”

Leonard’s mind flew through possibilities and he frowned. “What are you doing now, Rip?”

“In fact,” Gideon announced, “it’s operating at an efficiency rate of 12,000%.”

“Transfer all available power to the time drive,” Rip ordered. “Get ready to eject the meteor and pray that we have enough power for one last jump.”

“You’re _definitely_ insane,” Leonard decided. “Or I am, for joining this team.” He took a deep breath as the ship shook and then watched as the meteor was ejected. “Here we go,” he muttered. He closed his eyes as Rip immediately pushed the lever that would shoot them forward and through the time stream.

Rip’s whoop of victory caused him to open his eyes and he blew out a breath as he glanced out the window to see St. Roch 2021 and the team just noticing that Rip and the meteor were gone.

“Will somebody please tell me what just happened?” Ray demanded as the team looked up at the ship.

Rip grinned as he landed the ship on the roof and pushed out of his seat, moving to meet the team as they boarded the Waverider.

“I really don’t like you,” Leonard told him. “Even if that worked.” He followed Rip and caught up to him in time to hear him say,

“Sorry if I gave you all a fright.”

“You’re an idiot,” Leonard said.

“What happened to the meteor?” Kendra asked as they began to follow him back to the bridge.

“I, uh, flew it into the heart of the sun. Well, I angled the ship to eject the meteorite before impact and then, uh, time jumped away.”

“You could have been killed,” Jax snapped. Leonard nodded.

“You’re not wrong, kid.” He glanced to the side and took in the way Sara was staring at Rip like she wasn’t sure if she should hit him or not. “My vote’s yes, Assassin.”

“Should have been,” Mick said. “You’re a moron.”

Leonard turned and looked over his shoulder, pointing at Mick. “Exactly.”

Rip laughed a bit rather than answer. “Now who fancies a return trip back to 2016?”

They all moved a bit faster at that, taking in the damage that the ship had retained. Jax was muttering over all the repairs that would be needed causing Ray to grin and Sara to smile slightly. Eventually, they reached the doors and they watched as Rip had to manually shove them open.

“I can’t believe it’s over,” Kendra suddenly said, letting out a breath.

“Well, for some of you, yes,” Rip agreed. “My journey, it seems, is only just beginning.”

“How does that work?” Mick asked. “Savage is three time dead.”

“The Time Masters are no longer of growing concern due to our destruction of the Oculus,” Rip told him.

“You’re welcome,” Leonard said, noting the way Mick looked down at the mention of the Oculus, a frown appearing on his face.

“Someone needs to be responsible for protecting the timeline,” Rip continued. “Who better than a former Time Master?” He glanced around at the team. “And any of you who’d like to join me.”

Leonard watched as Mick didn’t look up but nodded. He had a feeling that Mick was going to stay. Mick had said he didn’t have anyone in 2016 and it was partly true. There was Lisa, of course, but they weren’t nearly as close as they used to be. Mick would still stick by her if it was needed but they weren’t the type to regularly keep in touch. A part of Leonard couldn’t help but be happy about that because it meant that Mick would be here, on the ship.

He glanced at Sara and saw the conflicted expression she wore and let out a breath. Sara was a wild card. She had family and friends in 2016. The man that had killed her sister was in 2016. She’d want to take him out. But it was also Laurel that had convinced Sara to join the team in the first place and he had a feeling that her family and friends that knew about the time travel weren’t going to just let her walk away from this mission.

He supposed he’d find out.


	5. BTVS/Teen Wolf: Buffy and Stiles are cousins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What I'm posting here is actually a rewrite of the opening that I posted on LiveJournal a few years ago. But the basic gist of this fic will be that Buffy and Dawn are Stiles's cousins and they end up in Beacon Hills post-Chosen. Pairings haven't been decided yet for this one since I've got a couple of different directions I'm thinking of going. (Also, timelines? What timelines?)

_We won._

It was the only thing that Stiles Stilinski could think as he dropped on his bed and stared up at his ceiling. A part of him couldn’t believe it. After everything that had happened since Scott had been bitten, it was hard to believe that they’d beaten an Alpha pack and a Darach.

But they had.

There’d been times he’d been sure that they wouldn’t, especially after the deaths of Erica and Boyd and then after the Darach had taken his dad along with Mrs. McCall and Mr. Argent. Instead, they’d managed to pull a fast one with that ritual of Deaton’s and, as worried as his dad was when he’d heard what exactly they’d done to save them, Stiles couldn’t bring himself to regret it.

What he’d probably regret is not going straight to the shower, he decided, pushing himself up. They’d all crashed at Derek’s loft the night before, even the parents, since no one in the pack had wanted to separate. That morning though, they’d all agreed to head home so they could shower and change then they were heading back to the loft.

Stiles knew that Derek and Cora were considering getting out of Beacon Hills and while part of him wanted them to get out so they’d be safe from this town, another part of him hoped that the two would decide to stay.

He was sick of losing people.

Sighing, he grabbed a change of clothes and headed into the bathroom. The hot shower did wonders for his sore muscles and drove away the cold that had settled into his very bones after that ice bath.

“Whoa,” Stiles said, as he left the bathroom and nearly ran into his dad. He frowned when he saw the fresh uniform. “You’re going to work?”

Noah nodded, smiling slightly in understanding. “Yeah, kiddo,” he said, reaching out to ruffle Stiles’s hair. He laughed at the expected protest. “After the storm and everything that’s been going on the last week, it’s all hands on deck.”

“But—“ Stiles cut himself off and blew out a breath when his dad simply raised an eyebrow at him. “Fine. I’m going to head to the loft later.”

“Eat before you go and maybe relax a bit,” his dad told him. 

Stiles nodded. “Don’t eat junk food.” He pointed a finger at his dad and narrowed his eyes. “I will _know_.”

“I’m allowed junk food.”

“Well, yeah,” Stiles admitted. “But you can’t eat just junk food.” Before his dad could say anything else, he added, “If I have to eat something healthy later, so do you.” Which meant that his dad was definitely going to embrace the cliché and have donuts for breakfast. He’d bet money on it.

“I’ll check in with you later, okay?” He gave Stiles another smile of understanding. He knew that Stiles would much rather they both stay home where they could keep track of each other but that wasn’t realistic in the long run so this was the best they could do.

“You better,” Stiles grumbled, smiling slightly before following his dad downstairs. Stiles watched as his dad shrugged his jacket on and then let out a breath when his dad pulled him into a tight hug.

“You text me when you get to Derek’s,” he ordered before he pulled back, settling his hands on Stiles’s shoulders. “And eat an actual breakfast.”

“Excuse you, Pop Tarts are an actual breakfast.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “I guess we can get rid of the waffles in the freezer then.”

“Pop Tarts mean nothing to me,” Stiles immediately said, grinning when his dad laughed.

“I thought that’d be your reaction.” He squeezed Stiles’s shoulders. “I’ll see you later.” He hesitated and then, for the first time in years, used his son’s actual name. “I love you, Mieczyslaw.”

Stiles’s breath caught in his throat and his eyes stung at the name he hadn’t heard in years. “I love you too, Dad,” he managed to say. He swallowed passed the lump in his throat as his dad walked out the door and stayed there until he heard the car starting.

He let out a shaky breath. “Waffles,” he muttered, turning towards the kitchen. “Waffles would be good now.”

Stiles let breakfast and then cleaning up after himself distract him before he looked at the clock. It was still too early to head to the loft. He was sure that Derek and Cora were both up but he also knew that they were probably going to talk to each other about what they were going to do next and now that Derek was no longer the Alpha, they probably felt like they had a few more options open to them rather than feeling like they had to stay here because a Hale Alpha had always protected Beacon Hills.

He didn’t want to interrupt that discussion, especially since he was still torn on what he hoped they’d do.

“Okay, so TV it is,” he decided, dropping on the couch and stretching out. He swore when he realized that the remote was just out of his reach on the coffee table. Rather than get up, he shifted over and stretched his arm out, swearing again when he nearly rolled off the couch. “Ha! Take that, remote,” he cheered when he managed to slide it close enough to pick up, sliding back so he was settled on the couch. “Thought you could escape but nope.”

He turned the TV on and froze when he saw the crater on the screen and registered what the reporter was actually saying.

“The town of Sunnydale collapsed yesterday and is nothing but a crater today. The town had started to evacuate over the last few days but authorities have confirmed that not everyone made it out of the town before it collapsed. There’s currently no confirmation on what could have caused this.”

The remote fell out of his hand as he stared at the screen before he rolled off the couch and scrambled to his feet, running towards the kitchen and skidding to a stop, flailing a bit as his socks slid on the tile. “No, no, no,” he muttered, picking up the mail that he and his dad had ignored for over a week. Neither of them had been bothered to look at the mail and Stiles cursed himself for not checking to see if he had a letter from Buffy before now.

As strange as it may seem to anyone who had met them, out of the two Summers sisters, Buffy was actually his favorite cousin. He loved Dawn too obviously but despite the fact that Buffy played the part of the clueless cheerleader very well, she’d always dropped the act when she was around Stiles. (Later, he’d realized that it was because of Buffy that had made it that much easier to see through Lydia’s masks.) 

Buffy had started to act strange not too long before Uncle Hank and Aunt Joyce had gotten divorced. He’d never been sure what had caused it but he’d always assumed that maybe all the fighting that her parents did had something to do with it. But looking back, he was almost positive that Buffy had gotten involved in the supernatural somehow. His mom had already been sick by then and so he’d never thought much of the conversation he’d overheard between his dad and Aunt Joyce about how Buffy had claimed she’d burned down the gym at her school in Los Angeles to get rid of the vampires. A few weeks in a mental institution and she’d changed her story.

He’d never been to Eichen House but the place looked creepy and if the place she’d been was anything like that, Stiles really wouldn’t blame her for changing her story.

Despite the fact that Uncle Hank was his dad’s half-brother, it had been Aunt Joyce that Dad stayed in touch with after the divorce and that had been just fine with Stiles. Buffy liked to send him letters (she’d once told him that everyone should get fun mail for themselves) and just left the one computer they had for Aunt Joyce to use for work unless she needed it for school. Dawn, on the other hand, had no problem using it to send him an email whenever she could. 

Those letters and emails had become his little slice of normal as he read about the things that Buffy and her friends were up to and read about Dawn whining that Buffy was being overprotective again. (All things considered, he figured Buffy was right to be overprotective. He still remembered how furious his dad had been when they’d found out that Buffy had been in a coma for a few months after she’d gotten hurt protecting Dawn from some crazy people that had kidnapped her a couple years ago.)

Stiles usually saved Buffy’s letters for the weekend whenever he got one. He thought of it as giving himself something to look forward to. He only hoped that Buffy had written to him to tell him that she and Dawn had gotten out of Sunnydale and that she’d let him know when they settled somewhere.

“Please have gotten out,” he whispered, cursing himself for not going through the mail at all recently. He told himself that Buffy would’ve gotten out. “Please.” 

He felt a surge of relief when he saw Buffy’s handwriting on the next envelope in the pile. “Oh, thank God,” he muttered to himself. He tossed the rest of the mail back on the counter without giving it a second glance and ripped open the envelope, letting it fall to the counter as he opened the letter and began to read. 

_Mischief,_

_First of all, I hope you and Uncle No are okay. I’ve seen the news coming out of there and it doesn’t seem like that serial killer is sticking to one type of person. I swear if either of you end up on the news for anything other than capturing the person, I’ll be pissed. So do everyone here a favor and stay safe, okay?_

_Things here are...well, everything’s a bit crazy over here. As usual, right? But it’s worse this time. You can practically feel the danger in the air and people are starting to talk about evacuating the town. Hell, some people are already starting to get out of here and I can’t blame them. On top of that, my house has basically become a safe house for a bunch of teenage girls who no longer have their families (or in the case of a couple, just need a place until they can get back to their families) plus Giles is back from the land of tweed. Not that I’m not happy to see him but the house is packed. Willow still lives with us, of course, but Xander and Anya are camping out here a good portion of the time too along with Spike and we just had another old friend show up too._

_We only have two bathrooms, Stiles. You can imagine the craziness, I’m sure. (Or maybe not.)_

_I’m not leaving though. Not yet at least._

_Don’t get me wrong, I’m fully planning on getting both myself and Dawn out of here (I’m actually planning on trying to convince Xander to get Dawn out of here ahead of time but she’s stubborn so who knows if it’ll even work) and getting to LA since it’s the closest stop here. We won’t stay there permanently but it’ll be a good stopping point so we can figure out what’s next for us._

_I can practically hear you saying that we should just head straight for Beacon Hills but you guys have so much going on without adding my special brand of crazy to the mix. Still, even if we don’t make Beacon Hills our next home, I promise we’ll visit._

_Anyway, like I said, I’m staying for a bit. I’m going to stay as long as possible to make sure that we get as many people as we can out of the town._

_I don’t know what’s going to happen but I know something will and that feeling of danger? It’s not one anyone in this town can ignore. If I can help, I have to._

_Stay safe, Mischief, and we’ll try to do the same here. I love you. Hug Uncle No for me._

_Love Always,_  
_Buffy_

Stiles closed his eyes and took a deep breath. The fact that she had called him Mischief not once but twice was enough to tell him how serious and dangerous the situation in Sunnydale had gotten. His mom and Buffy had been the only two to ever use that nickname for him after he called himself that when mispronouncing his name as a kid. After his mom had died, Buffy had mostly stopped using it except under certain and special circumstances. Otherwise, she simply used Stiles like everyone else did.

There was a good chance that there was another letter in that pile addressed to his dad but rather than check, he turned and ran back upstairs, heading straight for his laptop.

He bit his lip and tapped his fingers as it booted up, bouncing his knee as he stared at the screen. “Come on,” he said. “Hurry up.” He pumped his fist in the air when the log in screen opened and he quickly entered his password, silently hoping that there’d be an email from Dawn waiting for him.

It only took minutes for everything to come up, his email included, and he closed his eyes, fighting back the urge to fall apart when he saw nothing from Dawn. Instead, he shot out of his chair and grabbed his shoes, hopping in place as he yanked them on then ran downstairs and grabbed his keys.

He needed Scott.

~*~*~

Stiles vaguely noted the car in Scott’s driveway as he ran passed it and then burst through the door, just missing Scott who had been about to open the door.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Stiles shoved passed him and into the living room and headed straight for the remote, ignoring the fact that Derek and Cora were actually there instead of at the loft. He was sure that it had something to do with their decision but he couldn’t be bothered at the moment. He focused on switching to the news instead.

“Stiles—“ Scott cut off when Stiles motioned at the screen where the report about Sunnydale was repeating. Scott’s eyes widened. “But isn’t that where—“ 

“Yes,” Stiles interrupted. He stumbled backwards and dropped on the couch, only just noticing that he was still holding the remote in time to stop from accidentally hitting himself in the head with it. Stiles threw it to the side and propped his elbows on his knees as he stared at the floor and gripped the sides of his head. “Buffy sent a letter and it’s been sitting in our mail for who knows how long, today was the first time I looked through the mail in over a week because of the Alpha pack and Ms. Blake and she was going to stay, Scott. People were starting to evacuate the town but she said she was going to stay in town as long as possible to make sure she got as many people as possible out. And now the town is a crater and they’re saying there were still people in town when it collapsed and I don’t have any missed calls from her and Dawn hasn’t emailed me and what if they didn’t make it out? What if—“ Stiles stopped talking when Scott sat on the coffee table and reached out to grip his wrists. They were silent for a few moments before Stiles finally voiced what he feared the most. “What if they’re dead, Scott? I can’t...they’re some of the only family Dad and I have left. I can’t lose them too.”

Scott squeezed Stiles’s wrists and, for the moment, ignored Derek and Cora though he knew they were both probably dying to ask questions. But Stiles was what he needed to focus on now. That and not panicking himself because he’d gotten to know Buffy and Dawn over the years and they’d always been friendly with him. He didn’t even want to think of what it would do to Stiles or his dad if the girls hadn’t made it out of Sunnydale.

“Look at me, Stiles,” Scott told him, switching his breathing pattern to one that he knew helped Stiles calm down. Once Stiles had looked up, he smiled slightly. “Breathe with me.” It took a few moments before Stiles began to match Scott’s breathing, silently counting along with Scott as he told Stiles when to breathe in then out.


	6. BTVS/LoT: Sara is called as a Slayer during Chosen

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been dying to write this one for so long and this is just the prologue. I'm torn on doing this one as a series of one shots or doing a chaptered fic. Or a series of chaptered fics. (I'm leaning towards that one honestly.) This one will obviously go AU pre-series for Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow though everything that happened in BTVS will be the same - except for the comics. I'm not counting those. This will eventually lead to Sara as a Slayer being recruited by Rip which may also cause a couple other characters - from BTVS or Arrowverse - to show up more or even be part of the team. I'm still working that part out.

**_“Daughter of Sineya...”_ **

_A young girl struggled against the chains holding her down. A group of men stood around her, chanting, as a cloud of black smoke wound its way towards her. Panic flooded her and she thrashed against the rocks she was chained against._

_She screamed as the smoke forced its way inside her._

**_“I live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute. Alone.”_**

**_“The Slayer.”_**

_Her blood pumped through her veins as she ran, her surroundings nothing but a blur. She rode the rush of adrenaline as her eyes narrowed on the demon running from her. She fought back a burst of laughter, allowing herself nothing but a sharp smile as she put on another burst of speed._

_She felt free._

**_“Lesson the first: a Slayer must always reach for her weapon.”_**

_A wooden stake, twirled in a hand then slammed through a heart that crumbled to dust._

_The small twang as the crossbow released a bolt that flew across the room._

_Fire engulfing a building._

_Light glinting off the edge of a sword as it slashed through the air._

_The weight of a rocket launcher as it’s lifted and braced against a shoulder._

_The roar and heat of an explosion, pieces of a building flying through the air._

_The strain of muscles as a large troll hammer was swung._

_A scythe, the blade a deep red edged in silver with a handle that tapered from metal into a wooden stake, slicing through the monsters as though they were made of paper._

**_“From now on, every girl in the world who might be a Slayer, will be a Slayer. Every girl who could have the power, will have the power. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers. Every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?”_**

_A blonde woman held out the scythe and smiled, leaving the decision up to her to accept the power._

_Taking a deep breath, she reached out and wrapped a hand around the scythe’s handle, a smile lighting up her face._

**_“I’m ready.”_**

Sara Lance’s eyes snapped open.


	7. Legends of Tomorrow: Rip is Captain Canary's son (Captain Canary)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, of course this one is going to be Captain Canary. This one is an idea I've had for years and then I started actually writing it and, well, let's just say there's been a lot of world building and ideas thrown back and forth with AgentMaryMargaretSkitz. (Literally, I have pages of it for this 'verse and for another 'verse.) She's awesome like that. But, yes, this is basically the show with the twist that Rip is actually Sara and Leonard's son which means I'm playing with why does he do certain things and I'm also deciding how things might change down the line with this one
> 
> Also, nescius is just a name I made up for Rip's little flashy thing as Jax calls it.

He’d been prepared for this, Rip told himself as he stormed towards the Waverider. It was the entire reason he’d put together a team in the first place—or at least picked the people he’d chosen to recruit. Not that it had been a hard choice. He had been trying to figure out when and where to recruit a team to go after Savage (other than the obvious choices of Hawkgirl and Hawkman in whichever life they happened to be on) when he remembered listening in on a conversation between his dad and his uncle, a conversation he was never supposed to hear in the first place, he was sure.

_“You ever miss it?”_

_His dad paused, his drink midway to his mouth. “Miss what?” He smirked. “A life of crime? Being on the Waverider?”_

_Uncle Mick shrugged. “Either. Both.”_

_“No.” Dad shook his head. “Life as a criminal? I thought I’d miss it. But helping Barry put a stop to metas hellbent on destroying the city gives me the same adrenaline rush and satisfaction that a well-executed heist did. As for the Waverider,” he paused again, this time taking a drink, “I wouldn’t change it but I don’t think I’d go back to it.”_

_His uncle didn’t look surprised at all. “I didn’t think so.”_

_Dad shrugged. “Traveling through time was a hell of an adventure but look at everything that happened, Mick. I nearly died, Sara actually_ did _die. If it weren’t for Gideon and the professor, I never would have gotten the chance to...” He shook his head and gestured around them. “I’d have missed out on this. And we might not be all that normal but, let’s face it, neither of us would be very good at normal.” He frowned, looking lost in thought._

_Uncle Mick turned towards him a bit. “Boss?”_

_“I know what’s coming, Mick,” Dad said quietly. “And as much as Sara and I want to stop it, I’m not sure that we can. I keep trying to think of a way and I just can’t.”_

_“Maybe you’re not supposed to,” Uncle Mick told him. “Time wants to happen, Boss.”_

_“Doesn’t mean I can’t give it a damn good fight.”_

_“Leonard.”_

_Uncle Mick never used Dad’s name. Never, not unless it was big._

_There was a slight thunk as his dad set his glass down, harder than he normally would. “What?” he snapped._

_Uncle Mick didn’t back down. He rarely did. “You realize if you change it, if you stop it, you’ll create more than one change. Probably more than one paradox. You and Sara don’t meet. Free will is never saved. Savage is never stopped.” He focused on Dad. “Rip and Miranda never meet. Jonas never exists.”_

_He didn’t know why those last two sentences were enough to get to his dad but it was obvious they did with the way his shoulders slumped slightly._

_“I don’t know how I’m supposed to let him go, Mick,” Dad admitted, closing his eyes._

_Uncle Mick didn’t have an answer to that._

He knew now, of course, that his dad had been talking about him. About the Time Masters finding him on a school trip when he’d wandered off after being told not to by the teacher. He’d made a mess out of himself when he’d tripped and fallen right in to a mud puddle. He remembered thinking that his mom was going to give him that look that said she was equal parts upset and amused with him and then he’d run in to another little boy ( _“I’m Greg! I live here, want to see?”_ ). They’d started playing and it hadn’t been long after that they’d been taken.

Rip had woken up on a time ship with Greg and when they’d been allowed off, they were at the Refuge. A place where the Time Masters took children with no homes or families and trained them.

Except he’d had a family. The Time Master that had taken him had been long gone and had never heard him tell Mother (not Mom, never Mom, there was only one woman in the world that he’d call Mom) that his name was Michael Lance Snart and he wanted to go home to his parents.

His parents had known he was going to be taken. If he knew his parents—and he did, as much as any eight year old would know his parents, he supposed—then they had looked for him. That conversation that had confused him and that he’d dismissed as just his dad and uncle being weird had always stuck with him. And now he knew it had been his dad trying to figure out a way to prevent the Time Masters from taking him despite the fact that they wouldn’t have known _when_ he was going to be taken. They hadn’t acted any differently on that last day and there’d been signs earlier that year now that he knew what to look for. (The way his mom’s breath had hitched when he complained that he was too old for hugs before she’d smiled and hugged him anyway, ruffling his hair. The way his dad’s eyes always seemed to scan the street when they went out, like he was just waiting for something to happen.)

The way they’d mentioned the Waverider and Gideon. His ship and his A.I. for the last ten years. (He didn’t want to think of the way his dad’s voice had tightened on the words _Sara actually did die_. He didn’t want to think of his mom dying, hell, he _couldn’t_ think about it.)

His parents and his uncle had been on the Waverider. He paused as he remembered a time not long after he’d arrived at the Refuge, when a man (himself) had come in and his family (his parents, his uncles, his aunt) had all followed. The man had pulled him aside and out of the room before he had a chance to say anything and Rip remembered that conversation clear as day now.

_“Michael,” the man said, “do you know who I am?”_

_He shrugged. He didn’t care. His mom and dad were out there. Uncle Mick and Uncle Ray were out there and so were Uncle Jax and Aunt Kendra. So he didn’t care about this British guy._

_“You know what this place is?” the man continued. “What they train people to do?”_

_Michael narrowed his eyes at him. “Time travel.”_

_The man nodded. “That’s right. I want you to keep that in mind because you’ll need to remember it when I tell you who I am.” He hesitated. “My name is Rip Hunter. But I was born Michael Lance Snart.”_

_Michael sucked in a breath. “Prove it,” he challenged._

_“Our parents were married on October 21st because they thought it’d be hilarious thanks to_ Back to the Future. _They watch the trilogy every year on their anniversary instead of going out. When we were five, Dad taught us how to pick locks because he wanted us to always be able to get away if we were ever taken.” The irony of that statement was not lost on either of them. “When we overheard him make a joke about not stealing just one gum ball when robbing a candy store to Uncle Ray—and now that I know the story behind that, no wonder Dad looked smug and Uncle Ray annoyed—we picked the lock on Uncle Ray’s desk and took all the candy he had in there. We put it in the new backpack Mum had gotten for us and took it straight to our parents to show them. They couldn’t stop laughing.”_

_“Why do you have an accent?” Michael asked._

_“You know how you started using a British accent because it makes that one Time Master’s eye twitch?”_

_Michael grinned. “Yeah.”_

_“I kept at it. It helped separate me from being Michael. Not to mention, it still annoys the bastard. But the accent is Rip Hunter, Time Master. I suggest you use it around our parents.”_

_“They’ll recognize me anyway.”_

_The man—Rip—sighed. “They won’t. They’re from the year 2016.” His lips twitched. “I’m the reason they meet. I recruited them to be on my team and travel through time to stop a man who wants to destroy it.” He put a hand on Michael’s shoulder. “They won’t know you yet, Michael. I’m sorry.”_

_Michael looked down. “I don’t get to go home, do I?”_

_Rip shook his head. “No. Not yet. Maybe someday.” He let out a breath. “Until then, live as best you can, okay? You’re going to see them again, even if they won’t know who you are.”_

_Michael took a deep breath. He wanted to ignore Rip and go tell his parents who he was but if he was the reason they met then telling them would probably screw that up somehow. So he nodded instead._

_“Okay.”_

Well, Rip thought as he checked over the supplies and weapons in the cargo bay, he’d kept that promise. He’d lived. He’d fallen in love. And now he’d lost his wife and his son but he was about to get his parents back and maybe they’d be able to help him save Miranda and Jonas.

He let out an aggravated sigh as he headed back towards the bridge.

“How did the council meeting go, Captain Hunter?” Gideon asked now that she’d let him have a few moments to himself.

“Exactly as expected, Gideon,” Rip told her.

“So we are proceeding?”

“Indeed,” he agreed. “Prepare the Waverider for takeoff. Set a course. United States, Star City, January 2016.”

“Ah, the early second millennium A.D. The golden age of gasoline engines, online pornography, and those silly little smartphones,” Gideon mused. “What are we going to retrieve, Captain?”

Rip’s lips twitched. “Oh, not what. Who. I need you to pull up some files, Gideon.” He turned the captain’s chair so that he was facing the controls. “The eight men and women who’ll be joining us on our little crusade.” 

Gideon sounded puzzled, something that still amused him since many people insisted that A.I.s had no feelings at all. “You usually prefer to work alone, Captain.”

“This time, I’ll need a team.” Rip took a deep breath as the ship shot forward.

Time for a family reunion.

~*~*~

“First recruit: Dr. Raymond Palmer,” Rip said, pulling up the necessary file. “Also known as the Atom.” He stared at the profile for a moment and then took a deep breath. “Gideon, do you have his location?”

“I do, Captain. We’ll be landing atop the building he is located in shortly.”

“Fantastic,” Rip sighed. He wasn’t going to be able to waste time trying to talk each person in to coming with him now so he would have to knock each person out then bring them to the ship so he could take them all to one location.

That should be nice and easy.

Right.

Rip took a deep breath and shifted as the ramp lowered. He knew he didn’t have anything to worry about in regards to running in to any of the local vigilantes since Gideon had checked to be sure none were in the area.

The last thing he needed was to run in to his godfather, after all.

He checked his inner coat pocket and let out a relieved breath at the lock picks he’d gotten himself after he’d finished his training with the Time Masters. He kept his old set locked up with the few things he’d managed to save from when he was a kid and used this one whenever sneaking in to a place was necessary.

Even as he picked the lock, his lips twitched as he remembered the first time he’d put this particular skill to use.

_“Daddy, look!”_

_His dad turned and his eyebrows shot up in surprise at the sight that met his eyes. “You need some help with that?” he asked, already moving to grasp the backpack Michael was struggling with due to it being more than half his size not to mention the weight of it. He let out a small grunt of surprise when he felt how heavy it actually was. “What’d you do, Mike, rob a bank?” His lips quirked in amusement._

_Michael huffed. “No, Daddy,” he said, his tone clear that he thought that was a silly question. “I heard you and Uncle Ray.”_

_His dad frowned. “Heard what?”_

_“You told him to ‘member that you don’t steal just one gum ball when you rob a candy store,” Michael explained._

_“You robbed a candy store?” Dad asked, eyeing the backpack with a mixture of amusement and trepidation._

_“No. I picked the lock on Uncle Ray’s candy drawer and took all of it.”_

_His dad looked between him and the backpack, threw his head back and laughed, sitting down as he did so._

_“Daddy,” Michael tugged at the backpack. “We gotta check the loot.”_

_From the doorway behind him, his mom laughed. “Well, you’re definitely a Snart.”_

_His dad smirked. “That a bad thing, Lance?”_

_She stepped up to him and leaned down, poking him in the chest. “That’s Snart to you,” she said, pressing a kiss to his mouth._

_Michael made a face. “Gross.”_

_His dad slid the backpack towards him. “Eat your Uncle Ray’s candy.”_

Rip grinned as he opened the door just enough to slide inside, making sure it didn’t close behind him. 

“Gideon,” he said, tilting his head in question.

“Dr. Palmer is one floor down, Captain,” Gideon told him through the comm he’d brought with him. Rip nodded to himself though he didn’t bother to respond, focusing on keeping quiet as he entered the room where the man he’d only ever known as Uncle Ray was fighting off a group of the men known as Ghosts.

He smirked when the last one fell and began to applaud. At the sound, Uncle Ray turned and aimed at him and Rip raised his hands in the classic gesture of _I come in peace_.

“Oh, I am not one of your adversaries,” he said, pulling out his nescius, a device that would knock a person out by tricking their brain in to thinking that they were drunk to the point of passing out. It worked on anyone who looked at the flash of light the nescius emitted which usually saved him from having to answer unnecessary questions. He’d be able to use it to wake the people he was gathering all at the same time as well. One press of a button and they’d all wake with no side effects other than quite the headache. And if he wasn’t around to push the button to wake a person, they’d wake after eight hours thinking they’d passed out. It was one of the more convenient devices the Time Masters used.

Rip stared down at his now unconscious uncle and thought of the stairs he had to go up to get to the Waverider and sighed.

“Oh bloody hell,” he muttered.

~*~*~

It had taken some time and careful maneuvering but Rip had eventually gotten his uncle strapped in to one of the seats on the bridge.

Nodding in satisfaction, he sat and pulled up the next file. At the sight of who was next, he took a deep breath and let it out slowly, fighting back the emotions that threatened to overcome him.

“Next recruit: Sara Lance. Former member of the League of Assassins. Also formerly dead.” _And my mom_ , he added silently. He swallowed passed the lump in his throat. “Have you located her, Gideon?”

“I have, Captain Hunter,” Gideon confirmed. There was a moment of hesitation. “Are you all right, Captain?”

Rip smiled slightly. “I’m fine, Gideon.”

“And you’re certain about this course of action?”

“I am,” he said.

“Very well, Captain. I have located Sara Lance in Tibet,” Gideon told him.

Rip’s smile grew larger. “Plot a course, Gideon.”

It wasn’t long before they reached Tibet, not far from where his mom was. Rip made sure the ship was cloaked before making his way to his office, heading straight for the drawer where he kept the translation pills. He wasn’t sure if his mom was staying near the bar so he’d have to figure it out and actually speaking the language would be the easiest way to do that. He didn’t think leaving her things in Tibet while he took her to Star City was the way to get her to agree to join the team.

He made his way to the bar and paused outside the door, bracing himself, before he nodded to himself and pushed the door open.

The moment he entered the bar, he moved to a table just out of the way and scanned the room as casually as he could.

She was the only blonde in the room, drawing his gaze almost immediately and he clenched his hands at the sight of her.

_Mom._

He’d been eight years old the last time he’d seen her (outside of that time at the Refuge). Older than she was now, of course. She’d made sure he had everything, slipping an extra candy bar in his bag with a wink. There’d been a note on the back that said _Courtesy of Uncle Ray—don’t tell him. Have fun! Love, Mom_

He still had that note. It was one of the few things he had managed to hold on to over the years. He’d carelessly shoved it in his backpack’s front pocket but after he’d been taken, he hadn’t been sure what they’d do with his stuff and he’d dug out the note and carefully tucked it away in the Flash wallet his Uncle Jax had bought him for his last birthday, making sure that he kept the wallet in his pocket at all times.

He’d loved both his parents fiercely growing up but he’d always had just a bit of a soft spot for his mom, something that had amused his dad to no end. Little Michael Snart had hated anything that made his mom sad or upset in any way. Rip’s lips twisted slightly in a reflection of his dad’s smirk. A momma’s boy indeed.

He watched as she stared out the window at the snow. A few moments later, a commotion broke out as the server was harassed and she cried out as a man grabbed her.

“Let her go,” his mom said, not bothering to turn around.

This was not going to end well, Rip thought. For the man.

“Or what?” the man demanded, shoving the woman away and turning towards his mom. Rip closed his eyes and shook his head.

“Shouldn’t have asked that,” Rip muttered, watching as his mom drained her shot, stood, turned, and threw the shot glass at the man in one smooth move. Rip ducked his head to hide his smirk when the impact knocked the man down. Even as she took down that man and the man that came at her from behind, Rip took a deep breath and pulled out the nescius. He stood and moved forward.

“Ms. Lance! Join me for a drink?” he asked, hiding a smile when she turned and frowned at him in confusion. “I have come quite a long way to meet you.” He lifted the nescius and pressed the button just as she raised an eyebrow at him and he winced when everyone on that half of the room, his mom included, collapsed.

“Sorry, Mom,” he muttered, his accent disappearing for a moment. He glanced behind him at the few people that were still conscious and took note of the slightly fearful looks.

This should go well, he thought.

~*~*~

It hadn’t, in fact, gone well. It had taken quite some time to convince the woman his mom had defended that he wasn’t a crazy pervert that just wanted to have his way with her. (And then he’d desperately wished for something to drink because that thought was nauseating.) It had eventually worked and it had turned out that his mom was staying in one of the rooms in the building next door. He’d found her room easily enough and had felt his chest tighten when he’d seen nothing but two large duffle bags in the room. The only sign that she was staying in there, aside from her toiletries, had been a couple of pictures; one of her and Aunt Laurel and another of her with Aunt Laurel and Grandpa Q with a smaller picture of the three of them with Grandma tucked in the corner of the frame.

He hated the thought of his mom living like this. He was used to seeing tons of pictures, of seeing his mom smiling brightly, of pictures of the family—blood and chosen—scattered around the house. His jaw clenched as he carefully slid the pictures in to one of the duffle bags and made sure to gather anything else that was out. One last sweep of the room and he was walking out, stopping only long enough to pay what was owed for the room.

No reason to short the people that ran the place after all.

Once he was back on the Waverider, he set her bags in his office, pausing next to the seat he’d strapped her in to take in her features for just a moment. He swallowed and moved to his seat, pulling up the next file.

“Firestorm, the merged super form of one Jefferson Jackson and Professor Martin Stein,” he said. “Can you find them for me, Gideon?”

“Certainly, Captain Hunter.”

Rip let out a breath as Gideon went silent and very deliberately didn’t look back. He hadn’t realized how hard seeing his mom this young would be. How hard it would be to see her on her own and to see what her life had been like before she’d met his dad and the rest of the family. His thoughts were interrupted when Gideon spoke.

“Captain, I’ve found Firestorm in the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.”

Rip took a deep breath. “Excellent work, Gideon. Plot a course to Pittsburgh then,” he said, launching the ship forward.

He smiled in satisfaction when they reached Pittsburgh, Gideon guiding him to a spot not far from where Firestorm was apparently chasing after a criminal. And possibly causing an explosion or two if they were firing at him here, at this factory. Rip quickly made his way down the ramp and moved in the direction that it looked like they were going. He couldn’t stop the grin when the man they were chasing, screamed and went down. A moment later, Firestorm had separated and Rip got his first glance at Professor Martin Stein, a man that hadn’t been around when he was younger, and the younger version of his Uncle Jax. They immediately turned on each other.

“What’s the use of sharing my intelligence if you won’t listen?” Professor Stein demanded. 

His uncle narrowed his eyes. “Stop bossing me around like I’m one of your snot-nosed undergrads,” he shot back. 

Rip raised an eyebrow in surprise. This was not the dynamic that he’d pictured the two having based on the conversations he’d heard and participated in when he was a kid. He shook his head. “Excuse me.”

Professor Stein spun towards him while Uncle Jax leaned to the side to get a better look. His uncle frowned. “Who are you?”

Without bothering to respond, Rip raised the nescius and pushed the button, knocking them out. He winced when they fell to the cement.

“Should have thought of that,” he muttered to himself, preparing to drag each of them to the ship. He continued to mutter apologies to the two men as he moved each of them to the ship, switching from dragging them to carrying them in a fireman’s hold and carefully settling them each in a chair, locking them in. He let out a breath as he studied Professor Stein. He’d be the only one on the team that he had no memories of.

_“Who’s that for?” he asked, pointing at the headstone that his Uncle Jax was placing flowers on._

_“That’s Grandpa Martin,” his mom told him quietly, hefting him just a bit higher on her hip. “He was like a dad to Uncle Jax.”_

_“Is he with Aunt Laurel?” His eyes widened when his mom’s eyes filled with tears. “I’m sorry, Momma, don’t be sad.”_

_She smiled and kissed the top of his head. “It’s okay. I’m always going to get a little bit sad when I think of them and that’s okay. I miss them and when you miss someone like I miss them, it’s okay to be sad.”_

_“It is?”_

_She nodded. “It is,” she told him._

He’d been five, the same age he’d been when he’d stolen Uncle Ray’s candy, and his mom and Uncle Jax had told him a few stories about Martin Stein. A man that his mom said made her believe in herself which had made him awesome in Michael’s mind. A man that had treated his uncle like a son and done everything he could to protect the man. Even his dad had chimed in and said that while he hadn’t known Stein as well as Mom and Uncle Jax, he remembered the man having a few kind words of encouragement for him too.

This was a chance to get to know the man, something that Rip was a bit excited about, if he were honest with himself. The man was supposed to be a genius and devoted to his family. Surely he’d be able to help find a way to save Miranda and Jonas, especially when combined with everyone else on the team.

His parents, his uncles, his aunts. They’d always seemed like heroes to him (and the irony of that wasn’t lost on him now that he knew about their...night lives, so to speak). Over the years, he’d built them up to the point that Miranda had once said they sounded legendary.

Rip stared at the four that he’d picked up so far and allowed himself to feel the first stirrings of hope.

Surely, legends would find a way to save the day, wouldn’t they? He had to believe they could.

But first, he needed to pick up the other half of his family.


	8. BTVS/A Nightmare on Elm Street: A Nightmare on Revello Drive (future Spuffy)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is being written for a challenge on Elysian Fields by the same name. The start might sound familiar though I've rewritten it a bit. But once upon a time, there was a Buffy/Dean board where fans of that crossover pairing posted fic and challenges and one of those challenges had Freddy terrorizing Sunnydale instead of just Revello Drive while Buffy and Dean and co saved the day (while Buffy and Dean fell for each other of course). I wrote about three chapters of that one before college got in the way and that fic went forever unfinished on Twisting the Hellmouth. But I still have it and I liked the opening so I tweaked it a bit. So here's part of chapter one.

Dawn glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was paying attention to her before glancing back down at the book in her hand. She’d promised Janice and the others that she’d try and find something interesting for them to look at during the sleepover that night and had figured that Anya roping everyone into helping her and Giles with inventory was the perfect opportunity to find something.

So, here she was, on the floor behind one of the bookcases and hoping for something cool. A book had to better than just some random crystal or whatever. 

She flipped through the book one more time and then shoved the book into her bag, letting out a breath when she didn’t get caught. Quickly, she pulled her notebook close and began to write down the title of the next book in her box.

That old diary should be good enough.

~*~*~

Janice frowned down at the book. “A diary?” she asked, looking up at Tammy and Kim before turning towards Dawn. “Seriously?”

Dawn rolled her eyes. “You didn’t think I’d be able to get away with something really big, did you?” She shook her head. “I’d have been dead if I’d been caught with even this.” She’d considered trying for something else later, doubting her choice in the diary but there was no she’d be able to grab something else without Anya noticing.

“Still,” Kim interrupted. “Not even a spell book?”

“Sure,” Dawn said, raising an eyebrow in an imitation of Spike (that she pulled off way better than Buffy, _thank you very much_ ), “I’ll just walk out of a magic store with a spell book while they’re doing inventory and hope they won’t notice.” She was lucky Anya hadn’t figured out that she’d snagged the diary. “They do keep track of this stuff, you know.” She shrugged. “It was this or nothing.”

Janice sighed and stared down at the slightly worn book. “Fine,” she conceded, flipping open to the first page. “Let’s see what’s so interesting about Nancy Thompson’s diary that a magic store would buy it.”  
The start of the diary started out with the usual high school drama and, considering a diary wasn’t a fiction novel, there were no entries that went into details about some of the things which meant the girls were bored. (Honestly, couldn’t Nancy have conveniently written a line or two saying something like “You’ll remember that Tina hates Cindy because of such and such reasons?” Geez.) 

“Just keep going,” Tammy encouraged Janice when they were about a quarter of the way through. “There has to be a reason they had this, right?”

And about halfway through the diary, Tammy was proven right.

It was right around that point in the diary where Nancy started writing about how she and her friends had started having dreams about a man with knives for fingernails (which was weird—Dawn couldn’t remember ever reading about a demon like that during all the research she and the others had done so maybe Nancy was wrong) named Freddy Krueger. She glanced at Tammy and Kim as Janice finished reading the latest entry and noticed how pale Tammy had gotten.

“Wait, so let me get this straight,” Tammy interrupted, swallowing nervously. “She had a dream about this guy and so did Tina and then the next night Tina dies from a bunch of knife wounds? That’s crazy!”

“Yeah, that’s what everyone else thought according to this,” Janice said, waving the diary in the air. She skimmed over a few lines. “They all decided the boyfriend had done it. Nancy says in here that he told her that someone else was in the room with them, someone he couldn’t see, and it was like Tina was being sliced open by four blades at once.”

“So this could just be something that Nancy and her friends made up then, right?” Tammy glanced at them then at the diary. “Like the boyfriend said that to Nancy and was so convincing that she believed it then just made up the rest to explain it?”

“Could be,” Kim frowned, “but then there must be some reason why the diary was kept. If it wasn’t real wouldn’t they just throw it out and say a crazy girl wrote it?” She bit her lip. “Where’d you find it, Dawn?”

“In a box of books that I was supposed to leave alone because they weren’t for sale. I just moved it to the boxes that Anya told me to go through. I grabbed it when no one was looking then acted confused when Anya came to make sure I wasn’t messing anything up and flipped that I was going through it. Everyone just figured the box ended up in my pile by accident,” Dawn explained with a grin. “And voila! Diary!”

Janice laughed. “Not bad, Summers.”

“You’re so generous, Penshaw.”

Tammy wrapped her arms around herself and stared at the diary. “So you think Freddy is real then?” she asked, ignoring Janice and Dawn’s banter.

Despite the bit of doubt eating at her (because how often was something that was in a book from the Magic Box not real?), Dawn gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”

A look of relief flickered over her face before she smiled at Dawn and relaxed, turning towards Janice. “Well, you heard her. Keep going and let’s see what happens next,” she ordered, grinning when the others laughed.

~*~*~

It’d been decades since he’d felt this powerful. He closed his eyes, tilting his head back at the sudden rush of it.

_“So you think Freddy is real then?”_

He relished in the way her voice trembled and as the fear began to grow within each girl, he felt his strength grow to match it.

“Atta girl,” Freddy whispered, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

~*~*~

Dawn glanced over her shoulder the way she had only the day before and made sure that no one was paying attention to her before turning back to the box. Everyone was continuing with the inventory from the day before thankfully so no one noticed when she slipped the diary back into the box and quickly shut it.

She so didn’t need a lecture if she was caught with that. (Like she was the only one that took stuff from the shop. She was sure Willow took stuff to do spells whenever she wanted. At least Dawn was returning what she took!)

“Dawn?” Buffy called. “You need help?”

Dawn turned around and grinned at her sister. “Well, I might need help finding the actual box I’m supposed to be looking for,” she said. “I’m pretty sure this is the one that Anya didn’t want me looking at yesterday.”

“So you weren’t considering going through the box for something to read instead of doing inventory?” Buffy asked though she sounded more amused than anything.

Rolling her eyes, Dawn shook her head. “No,” she said, mentally adding that she didn’t need to do that anymore. “I definitely don’t need that lecture.” She frowned. “But you wouldn’t normally find that funny so what’s with the tone?”

“According to Anya those are the boring books not for sale so it would’ve been a waste of time anyway,” Buffy said. “I’m not sure what she considers boring but still.” She gestured at the boxes. “We actually finished those up after you left yesterday but there’s more if you want to help.”

Dawn shrugged and stood, doing her best to look innocent. If it had worked on Mom when Buffy did it, she was sure it would work on Buffy when she did it. “Sure. I’ve got nothing else to do.”

“No homework?” she asked as if suddenly realizing that Dawn might be using going through magic books to avoid math.

“I finished that research paper that’s due Friday during study hall.” She scoffed. “As if I don’t know how to research. Easy A, Buffy.” She grinned when Buffy laughed and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she lead her towards the others, ignoring the way her stomach twisted with nerves and fighting back the urge to shudder as she thought of the diary and what she and her friends had read about the night before.

She really hoped that Nancy was just crazy but, thinking of the other books the Scoobies had already gone through, Dawn doubted it.

~*~*~

Tammy blinked and frowned in confusion as she looked around in confusion, wondering how the hell she’d gotten here. One minute she’d been in her backyard, sunning herself and now she was close to Dawn’s house and it was night. Not to mention, she was still in her bathing suit.

Revello Drive was one of the longer streets that Sunnydale had so that meant she was probably at least a fifteen minute walk from her house but at least she was still in the right neighborhood even if she’d apparently lost a few hours. She’d just go home and change, veg out in front of the TV, and vow never to drink that weird Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, Sprite, and Coke/Diet Coke mix that Dawn had come up with. Especially if she was going to be spending time out in the sun.

Clearly that was just asking for weirdness.

“Tammy.”

She shivered at the whisper and swallowed nervously, glancing around. The fact that she couldn’t see anyone didn’t reassure her at all but caused her tense up instead. Dawn had once said that going out alone after dark in Sunnydale was one of the stupidest things a person could do and none of them had been able to argue that. It was why they usually got rides from one of their families or went out in a group.

She took a deep breath. “Who’s there?” she called out, wincing slightly at the way she couldn’t stop her voice from trembling. She wished that her friends were there. Kim would probably be rolling her eyes, Janice would probably laugh at the voice, and Dawn would be smart enough not to freeze and would get inside.

The sound of a high screeching filled the air and her stomach tightened with dread as she thought of the things they’d read about in the diary only a couple nights ago.

“Not real, not real, not real,” she muttered, backing away from the noise and closer to Dawn’s house. She flinched as cruel laughter echoed throughout the street. Her breath quickened, coming in fast pants as she watched the shadow passing over the side of one of the houses and stretching across the sidewalk. Her eyes widened in horror and she screamed at the sight of the man covered in burns in a red and green sweatshirt with knives for fingernails walked out from between two houses and turned towards her. Knowing she’d never get passed him to her house, she spun and began to run towards Dawn’s house, wincing when she felt a few rocks dig in her feet as her feet pounded against the concrete.

Weird things happened in Sunnydale all the time but while some people had said Dawn’s sister was always there for the weird stuff, Tammy had always felt safe whenever Buffy was around or whenever she was in Dawn’s house in general. She pushed herself to run faster, hoping that that would be the case this time.

She just had to get inside.

Praying that they’d forgive her for not knocking and that the door wouldn’t be locked, Tammy flew up the steps of the Summers’s front porch and shoved the door open, letting out a sigh of relief as she stumbled inside only to freeze at the sight that met her eyes. She stared in confused horror at her own backyard and turned, hoping to see her own house only to come face to face with Freddy.

He smiled. “Boo.”

“MOM!” Tammy stumbled back a few steps and prayed that she’d gotten her mom’s attention as she remembered that she’d only just been in the kitchen.

Freddy laughed as if her scream was the best thing he’d heard in years and walked towards her. She sobbed and turned to run again, letting out another small scream when she tripped over the patio chair and falling into the water.

The impact caused her to gasp, flooding her mouth and nostrils with water. She pushed her way towards the surface, desperate to get to safety. Sputtering, she broke through the surface, coughing and gasping for air.

“MOM, HEL—“

It was all she managed to get out before she was yanked under again, choking on the pool water again. Tammy kicked out, hoping to break the grip around her ankle and only managed to slice her leg against Freddy’s fingers. His grip tightened, the blades digging into her skin as he pulled her further under and her lungs burned for air as she struggled. She screamed when his fingers raked over her thigh and the water began to darken with her blood.

Her mouth opened to scream again when the four blades ripped through her chest.

She never felt the other cuts.

In the real world, Tammy’s mother ran outside at the sound of her daughter’s scream and stared in horror at sight of her daughter’s body floating in the pool as the water rapidly turned red.

She screamed.


	9. Teen Wolf/Harry Potter: In the Stars

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I actually wrote a short version of this for a challenge on LiveJournal years ago. Then I decided to expand on it recently and here we are. No ideas on pairings as of yet (though I already know what house he'll be sorted into) but the start is basically the only time the Teen Wolf world will be in this, otherwise it'll be all set in the HP world.

Stiles stared down at the page, looking over the spell that was there. 

_Redde Familiae._

This was perfect, he decided. It was exactly what he’d been looking for over the last two weeks.

Stiles shuddered and closed his eyes, setting the book down and scrubbing his hands over his face. These two weeks had been hell. 

His dad was dead. Theo may have wanted to push Stiles over the edge in to becoming a killer but all he’d done was take the fight out of him. Stiles had told Scott once that he couldn’t lose both his parents and he hadn’t been lying. Losing his dad had been it for him. He felt like the strength he had to keep going had just drained out of him.

But he was angry as well. He was angry at Theo for taking away the only family that he had left. He was angry at Scott for not being there, for not protecting his dad like he’d once promised. Hell, he was angry at every single one of the pack for reasons that he knew were completely irrational.

He couldn’t deny that part of him desperately wanted revenge. Part of him wanted to rip Theo to pieces.

But what would that do? That wouldn’t bring his dad back. Hell, there wasn’t even a guarantee that he could do it. He wanted to avenge his dad but he also wanted to honor him. How was dying while trying for revenge honoring him? It wasn’t.

This spell, on the other hand, would allow him to do exactly what his dad had wanted him to do. This spell would allow him to live without worrying about what was coming next, without wondering what the Nemeton would attract next.

He was tired, to put it simply. He was tired of fighting for his life every damn week. He was tired of losing people because of it.

So, he was going to be selfish about it. He wasn’t going to go after Theo. He wasn’t going to go after the Doctors. No, Stiles was going to do something else about it.

Looking down at the book, he took note of the few ingredients that were needed for the ritual. He had most of them and the few that he didn’t, he was sure that he could steal from Deaton. And he would definitely have to steal them. No way in hell would Deaton give him those things if he knew why Stiles needed them.

Deaton had been the one that had protested to Scott over Stiles looking through these books, even going so far as to tell Stiles that there wasn’t a spell to bring his dad back. At the look on Scott’s face, Stiles had raised an eyebrow and said, “I know that. Magic can’t bring the truly dead back. My dad isn’t Peter, he’s truly dead with no magical connections to a banshee to bring him back.”

It was probably petty that he’d enjoyed Deaton’s small flinch at that.

After all, it was through a book he’d gotten from Deaton that Peter had learned that little survival tip.

Stiles nodded to himself and pulled out a notebook to write out the ingredients he’d need to get and to start practicing the rune circle he’d have to draw.

~*~*~

Stiles carefully dropped the last bit of mountain ash, ensuring that most of the pack would be unable to get in. Once he’d done that, he let out a breath of relief. He could finally do the spell.

It had taken longer than he’d thought to get everything in place. Once he’d stopped to think about it, he’d realized that he couldn’t get one particular ingredient from Deaton, stolen or not. There were only certain spells and rituals that called for it and if Deaton had realized that he had any missing, it would have been entirely too easy for him to put together what Stiles was doing which had meant going through outside sources to get it. 

He had no doubt that Deaton would try to stop him if he’d gotten even a hint of what Stiles was doing.

Quickly making his way back in to his house, he took another deep breath before picking up the matches that he’d left on the table, next to his laptop that had a message for Scott and the others that he had recorded earlier—he knew that when Scott couldn’t get in, he’d ask Melissa or Deaton to break the line of mountain ash. He went down to the basement and paused at the bottom of the steps, running his eyes over the rune circle and double checking that the correct color candles were with the correct ingredients. Nodding in satisfaction, he stepped in to the middle of the circle and lit one of the matches, tossing the box outside of the circle and then lighting the candles. Blowing out the match, he carefully set it down on the concrete floor just outside of the rune circle before sitting down cross-legged in the center.

Stiles took a deep breath and then closed his eyes, focusing on what he wanted. He wanted family that he could belong to, he wanted parents, a part of him that he had long ago stopped listening to wanted siblings. He wanted nothing to do with Beacon Hills and the Nemeton.

“Mihi familiarem, ubi sunt, ubi no solum,” he said, his voice clear and strong and ringing with conviction. He repeated the phrase six more times, the magic in the air thickening with each repetition. 

As he finished the seventh recitation, his eyes shot open and the flames shot up towards the ceiling. 

There was a bright flash of light and then everything went black, the spell taking effect and moving him from one world to another, giving him his memories of his life there so far.

When he opened his eyes, it was as Rigel Pollux Black, older twin of Regulus Arcturus Black, a few months before his older brother, Sirius Orion Black, was set to start his first year at Hogwarts.

~*~*~

Stiles’s eyes shot open and he sucked in a breath as he lifted his hands in front of his face.

Rigel Pollux Black.

He wasn’t just a member of a completely different family, he was a member of a fictional family. To top that off, he was a family member that had never existed in said fictional family.

He knew the Harry Potter books backwards and forwards to the point that it had annoyed even Scott. Regulus Black had never had a twin brother.

Until now.

Stiles didn’t move for another few minutes as he thought about this. It was obvious that the spell hadn’t searched for his biological family but he wasn’t sure what had made the spell send him to a world that, to him, was fictional. The spell was supposed to take him to his family. He’d been expecting to wake up in a world where his dad was alive. He’d barely allowed himself to hope that his mom would be alive as well. But he’d still been expecting to wake up as Stiles Stilinski.

He bit his lip, wracking his brain for anything that might have gone wrong. He knew that he’d done the rune circle correctly, he’d gotten the correct ingredients, matched them with the correct candles. The only thing that he could think of was that he hadn’t thought of his mom and dad when thinking of what he wanted out of the spell. He’d been very general, thinking about how he wanted parents and siblings and a place to belong. Even more specifically, he’d wanted nothing to do with Beacon Hills or the Nemeton but he’d just assumed that meant he and his family would be living in a different town.

And he’d gotten what he’d asked for, hadn’t he? Just not in the way he thought he would.

Stiles’s breath stuttered as he thought of his dad. His dad, who he was never going to see again because the spell had been a onetime thing and it was irreversible. He’d known that before he’d done it, he’d accepted it. Of course, that was when he’d thought he’d be starting over with the same parents.

Now though? Now, he’d never see either of them unless he looked at his memories. Stiles clenched his jaw as his eyes prickled with tears. He turned so that he could bury his face in his pillow, vaguely noting that it was sometime in the middle of the night even as he let the tears begin to fall.

Tonight, he’d allow himself to grieve the loss of even the possibility of seeing his parents again and then, after that, it was going to be time to work through his new memories.

~*~*~

The sun was just beginning to filter through the curtains covering his window when Stiles finally sat up, scrubbing his hands over his face and taking a deep breath.

The time for grieving was over now. He couldn’t afford to linger on his past life if he wanted to survive in this one, not when he had nearly a decade’s worth of memories to go through before he was expected to go downstairs for breakfast.

But, first, he had one last thing to do regarding his other life and that was write down everything down that he could remember happening in Harry Potter that could help him.

After all, it wasn’t like he had to worry about the timeline—he’d already changed things just by existing. As the middle Black brother, he was liked well enough though he wasn’t the favorite. That was still Regulus, which amused him a bit, while Sirius currently seemed to be tolerated. He was the heir of the family after all but Walburga Black didn’t like his bouts of rebellion and had been furious when he’d snuck out to the nearby muggle playground to play a few months ago.

As quietly as he could, he moved over to his desk and pulled out parchment, ink, and a quill. Pausing, he stared down at them and realized that even though he had the memory of learning to write with them, he wasn’t sure if he could actually do it now. Sending up a silent prayer, he dipped the quill in ink and wrote out the first thing on his list of things he remembered, starting with his new family.

Stiles paused and tilted his head, studying his writing. It wasn’t as neat as in his memories but it was legible. Still, he’d have to practice to get back to what was expected. He couldn’t afford to make anyone suspicious.

Well, what better way to practice than by writing all of this down?

Keeping one ear trained on the hallway for sounds of movement, Stiles began to write down everything he could remember about what had happened to the Black family, thanks to the books, Pottermore, and what he’d read on Harry Potter Wiki.

Sirius had always been one of his favorite characters and his story (along with Regulus’s) had always made him a bit sad and he’d be damned if he let it all play out the way it had in the books, especially now that they were his brothers.

A knock on his door brought him out of his thoughts and he carefully stacked the parchment, opening one of the side drawers of his desk to pull out an engraved box that had been a Christmas gift from his parents, with Sirius and Regulus each getting one of their own as well. The box was meant to hold anything of significance to them and could only be opened by them as it was set to their magical signatures.

“Yes?” he called out, momentarily startled by how much younger he now sounded.

“Breakfast will be served in ten minutes, Master Rigel.”

Kreacher, he realized, recognizing the voice from his memories as Rigel. “Thank you, Kreacher.”

He placed the parchment in the box to avoid the disaster of anyone else seeing what he’d written and locked it before quickly changing from pajamas in to casual clothes and a summer robe. Stiles took a deep breath as he stared at the door. From the moment he walked out that door, he’d vowed to himself he would no longer think of himself as Stiles and would embrace life as Rigel Black fully. 

Swallowing, he said one last silent goodbye to his old life and opened the door.

~*~*~

All hell broke loose a few months later when the letter arrived announcing that Sirius had been sorted in to Gryffindor. Rigel, of course, hadn’t been surprised; he’d known this was coming. Regulus had looked resigned as if he’d suspected this would happen. Orion had been quietly furious that Sirius had broken the Black family tradition of going to Slytherin. Walburga, on the other hand, had shrieked in rage and vented it all towards Sirius in a howler.

Rigel had managed to get ahold of one of the family owls that liked him more than anyone else and had sneaked a letter to Sirius telling him that he didn’t care if Sirius was a Gryffindor, they were still brothers. The relief in Sirius’s reply had been so noticeable that Rigel had wanted to grab Regulus by the shoulders and shake him and tell him that, yes, he could still have his ridiculous debates with Sirius, no matter what house he was in. Instead of actually writing to Sirius himself, Regulus had hesitantly asked Rigel to tell Sirius hello from him. Interpreting that from Regulus speak, he’d told Sirius that Regulus had sent his love but was hesitating at writing because of their mother. He’d spent the rest of the year secretly writing to Sirius (who had made sure that his owl would only deliver to Rigel at night when he was alone) and finishing up his final year of home schooling with Regulus.

When Sirius had gotten home, he’d barely had any time to greet Sirius before his brother was being locked up in his room as punishment for his “humiliation of the family”. He’d spent the summer sneaking food to Sirius as well as little notes while also anxiously waiting for his own Hogwarts letter. He couldn’t wait to go to Diagon Alley.

Nothing exciting happened during that trip other than the fact that he now owned a wand (ash with a core of dragon heartstring). Secretly, he’d been hoping they’d run in to one of Sirius’s friends but he also had a feeling that if there was any way to avoid that, his parents had made sure to take it.

When they’d gotten to the platform, Sirius had disappeared as soon as he was able—not that Rigel could blame him what with the way their mother had been looking at him. Rigel and Regulus had simply gotten a stern look and a “Make us proud.” Rigel had nodded and gone to board the train and claim a compartment for Regulus and himself.

Behind him, he heard Regulus quietly say goodbye to their parents before he followed behind Rigel onto the train. Rigel glanced back at his brother and raised an eyebrow in question. 

“First empty one we find,” Regulus told him. Rigel grinned and began to walk, a bit surprised at how long they had to walk to find an empty compartment. 

“Finally,” he muttered as he dragged his trunk inside. He turned and frowned as he looked between their trunks and the top of the compartment.

“Need a little help, little brothers?”


	10. BTVS/Teen Wolf: Buffy is Isaac's mom

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the Buffy episode, Normal Again, and a fic I read where Buffy actually was in a mental institution making up being the Slayer. But instead of having her believe in the Slayer, I just changed why she got put in Eichen and, well, here we are. (Also, Allison lives! Because I can.)

Stiles shifted as he looked at the pack gathered around Scott’s living room, his eyes lingering where Allison and Scott were sitting next to each other, trying too hard to look casual. After defeating the Nogitsune and nearly losing Allison, they’d been dancing around each other to the point that Stiles was pretty sure that even Isaac and Kira were going to lock them in a room together.

“What’s going on, Stiles?” Scott asked.

Stiles glanced back at him and blew out a breath. “I need your help. There’s a woman that I think was wrongfully locked up in Eichen House.” He licked his lips as the others all straightened.

“Are you sure?” Scott stood, wiping his hands on his jeans. “I mean, what makes you so sure?”

“She was locked up because she made the mistake of telling her husband about the discovery of werewolves.” Stiles sighed and pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning against. “I know that sounds convenient but she was the one that helped me out when I was in there. Besides Malia, of course. She came up to me after she saw me talking to Morrell and warned me to watch what I said to her. Once we got to talking, she told me how she’d been saved from an attack by a wolf that had turned in to a woman.”

“Derek’s mom,” Isaac said, realization coming over his face.

Stiles nodded at him. “Yeah. Then she went home and when her husband asked her what happened, she decided to tell him the truth. It got her a one way ticket to Eichen and she hasn’t seen him or her kids since.”

Allison winced. “That’s awful,” she muttered. She bit her lip. “But, I guess without proof, it’s a pretty standard reaction to think a person talking about werewolves being real is crazy.”

“Though most people would probably either just humor them or ignore them,” Scott pointed out.

“Unless he thought she was a threat to the kids,” Kira said. “You said she had kids. Maybe her husband thought she hurt herself and made up the werewolves thing as a cover. Maybe he thought she was going to hurt the kids.” She glanced around the room. “I’m not saying we leave her there. She obviously wasn’t making it up but I just thought I’d point out that maybe he was just trying to be a good dad.”

“As much as I want to just say let’s do this, we’ve got other things to consider,” Scott said, glancing at Stiles. “Like your dad? Did you tell him about this?”

Stiles sighed. “I told him that someone at Eichen needed help and that I wasn’t sure that there was a legal way to do it but that if he could find one, I’d go with that plan first. He’s not thrilled that I’m planning a jail break, so to speak, but he gets it.” For a moment, Stiles stared at the wall as if seeing something none of them could. “No one should be locked up there. Not even the ones that are actually out of their minds.”

Lydia, who had remained silent up until this point, stepped forward. “So we work on a way to get her out. But we need to do it in a way that won’t bring all kinds of attention to us. Let’s start with the obvious. Stiles, what’s her name?”

He winced. “Well, that’s going to be the slightly harder part. I only know her first name but it’s an unusual enough name that I don’t think we’ll have any issues.” When Lydia only raised an eyebrow in question, he rolled his eyes at her though he couldn’t stop the small smile from appearing at the look she was giving him. “Her name is Buffy.”

Isaac’s head snapped towards Stiles, his eyes widening. He stared at Stiles for a few moments before bolting out of the room and up the stairs to his room.

“Isaac?” Scott made a move as if to follow him and then paused. “He’s already coming back down.”

As if Scott’s words had summoned him, Isaac leaped down to the first floor and ran back in to the living room, only stopping when he reached Stiles. He held up the picture in his hands, turning it towards Stiles. “Is this her? Is this Buffy?” he demanded.

Stiles frowned at him and then looked down. His eyes widened as he took the frame from Isaac. “That’s her,” he confirmed though they’d all guessed the answer based on his reaction. He held the picture out to Isaac. “How do you know her?”

Isaac looked down at the picture of the smiling blonde and swallowed passed the lump in his throat. “She’s my mom.”

~*~*~

Finding out that the woman that had helped Stiles was Isaac’s mom spurred them in to action. It was no longer a matter of whether or not they could get her out but _when_ they’d get her out. The other thing that they had to figure out was where to hide her afterwards.

“You can’t bring her back here,” Lydia said.

“She’s my mom,” Isaac snapped.

“And you’ll be the first person they check with,” Stiles pointed out even as he gave Isaac a look of understanding. He and Isaac didn’t get along most of the time but he could understand the need that Isaac had to protect the only family member he had left. Especially because this was one family member that seemed to be decent. Having met her just made Stiles even more determined to help. “Even though you won’t have been on the records as having visited her, you’re still her son so they’ll be required to come check. If they even suspect that she’s here…”

Isaac slumped down in his seat. “Yeah. Good point,” he admitted.

“What about Derek’s loft? He’s visiting Cora so it’s not like she’d be in the way.” Stiles pulled out his phone, already typing up a text. “I doubt he’d mind.”

“You think so?” Isaac stared at the phone in Stiles’s hands and briefly wondered if it should be him sending that text to Derek instead. He gave himself a mental shake as Stiles’s phone beeped with an incoming text.

Stiles grinned as he read it. “I know so. He said it’s fine, she can stay there and he said that you’re welcome there too for as long as you need.”

Isaac looked down, hiding the smile that appeared on his face. He and Derek had actually sat down and talked about why Derek had pushed him away and it had gone a long way towards fixing things between them. This would just be another step towards that.

Lydia nodded in approval before sitting at the table across from Isaac. “Okay, so I asked Danny if he’d be willing to hack in to Eichen’s records for us. Now that we know that he’s in the know about everything, I figure it’s okay to ask him for strange favors.”

“I asked him for strange favors before he knew about this crap.” Stiles shrugged when Isaac raised an eyebrow. “It involved Derek stripping.”

Rolling her eyes, Lydia shook her head. “Either way, this way I was able to tell him why I was asking and he was more than willing but he couldn’t find anyone with the last name Lahey in their records. So I need to know your mom’s maiden name. I think your dad was trying to hide the fact that she was there in case you ever tried looking for her and so he didn’t use the name you would automatically look for.”

He nodded in understanding. “Summers. Her maiden name is Summers.”

“Buffy Summers,” Lydia repeated. “I’ll see if Danny can find anything on her—we need to know if they’re giving her any kind of medications.”

“They do but she doesn’t take them,” Stiles told them. His lips twitched when Isaac and Lydia both turned to look at him. “She fakes taking them and then hides the pills. They’re supposed to make her stay quiet so that she doesn’t talk and they kind of mess with her head. Once she figured that out, she found a way to hide the pills and started to just pretend swallowing them so that she’d always have a clear head. She was going to help me do the same thing but they used needles on me.”

Isaac stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. “She learned that from me,” he explained once he’d stopped. “I used to hate taking medicine when I got sick because I hated swallowing pills so I’d find ways to dump it or hide it and she figured it out one day. Instead of getting mad though, she just either crushed the pills or opened them up and then put the powder in to water or juice so that I could just drink it.”

“Well, then your hatred of pills really helped out your mom. She would pretend to swallow the pills and then spit them out once the guards had left. If she was outside, the pills were opened, the powder spilled out, then she’d go for a walk and drop the capsule halves in different places as she went. If she was inside, she would tuck the pills under her bra strap until she was able to go to the bathroom later and then drop them down the drain.” Stiles inclined his head towards Isaac and grinned.

Isaac blew out a breath. “Do you really think we can do this?” he asked, his nerves clear in his voice.

It was still a little strange to have Stiles be the one to clap him on the shoulder but he supposed if there was one thing that he and Stiles could understand about each other, it was missing their mom.


	11. Teen Wolf: Scott never gets bitten but Stiles ends up involved in the supernatural anyway (future Sterek)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is entirely on the lovely people on the Sterek Discord. There was talk of what would happen if Scott never got bitten but Stiles somehow still ended up getting involved with the supernatural (and Derek) anyway. Then this happened and it's only one page but it exists and that's entirely on them.

It’s not like Stiles went _looking_ for trouble, okay? He was totally Harry Potter over here; trouble found _him_.

Okay, maybe he’d get into less trouble if he stayed home when he said he would but that wasn’t the point. The point was that Stiles got bored sometimes and when he got bored, he needed to do something and usually he’d just go to Scott but, in a turn of events literally _no one_ had seen coming, Scott had gone and gotten himself a girlfriend. Which meant that Scott had no time for late night shenanigans with Stiles anymore. 

So, _really_ , this was all Scott’s fault.

Because if Scott were with Stiles then he’d have talked Stiles out of going out. Well, no, actually he’d have caved and gone out with Stiles but he’d have delayed Stiles long enough that Stiles probably wouldn’t have just hit some guy with his Jeep.

After said guy _fell out of the sky_.

Oh god, Stiles had just run over an alien. _Roswell_ fandom was going to kick him out for this.

He scrambled out of Roscoe and ran to the front of his baby, skidding to a stop when he saw the guy pushing himself onto his hands and knees.

“Dude, should you be doing that? What if something’s broken?” he blurted out. Stiles thought it was a pretty valid point so he didn’t think it was necessary for this guy to literally growl at him.

Then again, Stiles _had_ just hit him with his Jeep so maybe he earned a free pass on the growling.

Stiles managed to stay quiet until the guy stood up and then he couldn’t help himself.

“Is that blood?” Stiles stared at the small puddle that had already started to form under the guy’s (who, now that Stiles could actually see his face, was actually Derek freaking Hale) left side. “Oh my god, please tell me I didn’t just interrupt a turf war between Beacon Hills’ version of the Sharks and the Jets.” He swallowed at the glare Derek was giving him. “Please don’t kill me. Sheriff’s son here, it wouldn’t end well for you if you murdered me.”

“Shut up,” Derek snapped, grimacing.

“Rude,” Stiles muttered. He faltered when Derek scowled at him. “Uh, I can give you a ride if you want? Wherever you want! Hospital or whatever.”


	12. Teen Wolf: Elevator fic (future Sterek)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, this can be blamed on the Sterek Discord. Awkward Stiles in the elevator eventually leads to Sterek. I don't even know if I'm going to make this an all human AU or if werewolf shenanigans will happen at some point. Who knows? Not me.

Stiles stared at the numbers above the elevator, fighting back the urge to cheer when it indicated that the elevator had reached the lobby by changing to a bright L. Immediately, he entered and, juggling his books and coffee a bit, managed to hit the button for his floor.

Moving back, he settled against the wall for a smooth ride to the fifth floor. Just as the doors started to close, they paused and opened again. Stiles mentally swore. He hated when he had to share the elevator. The silence always felt so awkward. He glanced up and froze, waiting for the choir of angels to start singing “Hallelujah” because, okay, sharing the elevator with this guy wasn’t going to be a hardship because the guy was hot like burning.

Stiles looked back down, studying the guy from under his lashes. Yeah, Hot Guy was going to be the best to share an elevator with. No awkward silence for Stiles today; no, he was just going to enjoy the view and maybe try to figure out what the hell color Hot Guy’s eyes were.

“I love you,” Hot Guy said as he hit the button for the fourth floor.

Aw, that was so sweet, Stiles thought. Hot Guy loved him. Why, Stiles didn’t know but he wasn’t going to question it and he wasn’t going to leave him hanging because, hello, Stiles wasn’t rude.

“I love you too,” he replied easily, looking up.

Hot Guy paused and then slowly turned to look at Stiles, lips pursed slightly and eyebrow raised. Without saying another word, he lifted his right hand and tapped the Bluetooth that Stiles hadn’t been able to see before.

Eyes widening, Stiles looked back down and focused on the lid to his coffee. He could actually feel his cheeks turning red.

So much for that whole no awkward silence thing, Stiles thought. Maybe the floor would open up just enough to let him drop through so he could fall to his death. If a person could die from falling a few stories. He’s sure if he managed to land right it would happen. At the very least, he might break his legs so he could just be bedridden for the rest of eternity. That would work too. Even as he pondered this, Stiles deliberately kept his gaze down for the entirety of the elevator ride, shoulders tense. Despite his (very valid) death wish, he couldn’t help but debate whether it was worth it to risk a glance over at Hot Guy before deciding against it. He didn’t need any more embarrassment, thanks.

The elevator came to a stop at the fourth floor and Hot Guy moved towards the door, hesitating for a moment as though he were going to say something before he continued without saying a word. 

Stiles flicked his eyes up as Hot Guy exited the elevator, eyebrows raising as he checked out Hot Guy’s butt.

His lips twitched as he looked down again. Totally worth it, he decided.

Especially since, if there was a god out there—any god, he wasn’t picky—this was going to be the last time that he was ever going to be seen by another living person in his lifetime.

~*~*~

“Could you possibly stop laughing for five seconds, Scott?” Stiles demanded as his best friend doubled over.

Scott shook his head and gasped for air before breaking down into laughter again.

“It’s not that funny,” Stiles muttered.


	13. BTVS/Teen Wolf: Buffy is an Argent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, this was saved as "Buffy/TW Nano fic" but I ended up going a way different direction for Nano. As in, different fandoms entirely. So there went that. But, basically, this is the idea that Gerard was like "I've got the future matriarch, who needs an extra kid anyway" and got rid of Buffy. I have to find my outline for the exact reasons but, basically, yes, Buffy's an Argent in this one.

_Elizabeth Argent._

Except she’d never heard that name before in her life. She’d always been Buffy Summers, for as long as she could remember.

The papers in her hand shook slightly as she read them over. A legal agreement between Hank and Joyce Summers and Gerard Argent, who had apparently sold his daughter, sold her, to the young couple who couldn’t have children for the price of $25,000.00. Underneath that was the paperwork changing her name legally to Buffy Summers.

Buffy fought down hysterical laughter at the thought of so much money. Was that the going rate for a child back when she was born then?

Slowly, she took a deep breath and then let it out. She did this a few times and put the papers down so that she wouldn’t rip them. These papers had been locked in her mother’s box of important papers, buried at the bottom, in a folder that simply said “Buffy” on the side tab.

She’d decided to look through her mom’s paperwork, hoping there was something she could use for extra money. Some old bonds or _something_. Instead, she’d found this and she couldn’t even ask her mom about it because she’d been dead for months and Buffy had been alive again for only a few weeks at this point. She didn’t have time for a family she’d never known about before. She had bills to pay and a sister to raise.

And, God, this meant that Dawn was also technically the daughter of this Gerard jerk, didn’t it?

Shaking her head, she put the papers back and vowed to call her dad (because absent or not, Hank wasn’t the one that had sold her) and find out the actual story behind those papers.

For now though, she had to figure out a way to start paying the bills.

~*~*~

Sunnydale becoming a sinkhole turned out to be the push needed to ask Hank about what had happened. Mostly because he’d heard about Sunnydale even all the way over in Spain and had called to find out how she and Dawn were.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to come down there?” 

Buffy shook her head. “We’re fine, Dad, I promise. We’re staying in LA for now.” She hesitated for a moment. This talk had already been brutal so far when Hank had first offered to fly out and Buffy had snapped that if Mom’s death hadn’t been worth a trip out, she didn’t see why a town becoming a crater with his daughters being just fine warranted a visit. That had turned in to a long overdue talk about the fact that Hank hadn’t found out about Joyce’s death until months after it happened and had been too ashamed to reach out to Buffy and Dawn after that. Bringing up the papers in the box that now sat at the bottom of her duffel bag might be too much but she couldn’t think of a better time. Who knew when she’d get a chance to speak to her dad again? “I have something to ask you actually.”

“What is it, Princess?”

That, right there, was the sign that he’d heard her hesitate. He hadn’t called her Princess in years, not since the last time she’d spent the summer with him. She bit her lip and then took a deep breath.

“I found Mom’s box of papers after she died,” she said. “There was a folder with my name on it and...” She let the sentence trail off, unable to finish it.

“You found out about Gerard Argent.” He sounded resigned, like he’d just been waiting for this conversation to happen for years.

“Yeah,” was all she could bring herself to say.

“I’m sorry you found out that way, sweetheart. Your mom and I could never figure out how to tell you but you finding the papers wasn’t it.”

“Why did you do it that way?” Buffy asked. “Why not use an adoption agency?”


	14. Legends of Tomorrow: Captain Canary as teachers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, self-explanatory chapter title but for a bit more, while Captain Canary and a few other characters are teachers, Mick and other students like Caitlin Snow will be students. (And yeah, they ship it.)

They didn’t need a new teacher, Leonard Snart thought to himself as he poured himself a cup of coffee. 

Except they really did because as good as Jonah Hex was as a lit teacher, he had decided to fuck off somewhere (probably Hunter’s bed, whatever, Leonard hadn’t had nearly enough coffee to think about that) and so now they actually _did_ need a new lit teacher. They’d already lost their creative writing teacher and Leonard knew for a fact that more than a few kids had been upset when no replacement had been found, meaning the class hadn’t been offered last year.

It’s not as if he was going to have to deal with the newbie—Leonard taught Introduction to Engineering and another engineering class meant for upperclassmen after all, nothing to do with the arts at all—but no matter how often he told himself that, he also knew it wasn’t true. Because his favorite student (teachers don’t have favorites his _ass_ ), Mick Rory, might _like_ building and designing things—like the flamethrower that Leonard had reluctantly told him he couldn’t test out while on campus (but had definitely earned the kid an A, the look on Hunter’s face when he’d heard about it had left Leonard gleeful for days), which had been his final project for Intro to Engineering, loved arts much more than he did engineering. He’d caught the kid reading various books, none of them having to do with science, multiple times over the last year. But even more than reading, the kid loved to write. He just didn’t have a chance thanks to the lack of the creative writing class, which was being remedied since the newbie was taking over both the lit class and the creative writing class.

The only reason Leonard even knew was because he’d caught Mick using one of the computers in the lab to work on a short story instead of working on schematics. Mick had looked like he was just bracing for the blow when it had happened, confirming Leonard’s suspicions that Mick’s foster parents were assholes of Lewis Snart proportions (which had meant contacting Barry when he got home), and had looked completely thrown when Leonard had told him it was okay to use the computers for that as long as it was on his own time and not during class.

Which meant that Leonard was probably going to be keeping an eye on this new teacher because hell if he was letting anything mess up reading and writing for Mick. 

Leonard sighed. This is why Lisa constantly laughed at him and called him a softie.

Damn it.

~*~*~

“Mr. Snart?”

Leonard looked up from the stack of homework he’d been grading to find Mick standing in the doorway, looking a bit nervous. He deliberately relaxed as he leaned back in his chair.

“What’s up, kid?” he asked, lips twitching when Mick automatically made a face at the nickname. He was pretty sure that Mick noticed though based on the way he rolled his eyes before looking at the stack of paper stapled together he was twisting in his hands.

“I was wondering...” Mick clenched his jaw and shifted in place before blowing out a breath. “Ms. Lance had us write a short story for part of our homework and then the other part is to ask someone we, uh, someone we trust to read it and give their opinion on it. And, well, you’ve never lied to me so I was wondering if you’d read mine,” he said in a rush.

Leonard blinked and fought not show his surprise. He wasn’t about to spook the kid and have him take off. Instead, he let a small smile appear on his face because he hadn’t realized that Mick actually trusted him. The realization gave him a warm feeling that he pointedly ignored for the moment. Students had nicknamed him Captain Cold for a reason, damn it.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I can do that.” He held out a hand for the story and waited patiently while Mick processed that Leonard had just _agreed_. When it seemed to click, Mick grinned and handed over the story.

“Thanks, boss. Ms. Lance said to just make notes on there or another sheet of paper.”

Leonard gave him a mock scowl. “I told you not to call me that.”

Rather than answer, Mick darted out of the doorway, his laugh echoing in the hallway. Leonard looked down at the story and smirked, shaking his head.

“Damn kid,” he muttered, not bothering to hide the fact that he sounded more fond than exasperated.

There was no one around to call him out on it after all.

~*~*~

The story was good. It was damn good actually and Leonard didn’t bother to hide what he thought when he was making notes on it. Sure, there were typos but he figured that’s why the lit/creative writing teacher—who he remembered as a pretty blonde from the staff meeting Hunter had insisted on to introduce her to everyone—had told them to have someone look over it. Fresh eyes and all that. He asked questions about the things he didn’t understand, whether Mick meant to expand the story later to explain those things or was he doing a sequel, mentioned the things he liked best, what could be improved. And the most important question, he’d written at the end of the story.

_What happens next?_

~*~*~

When he’d given the story back to Mick, he’d watched how Mick had briefly fought with himself before giving in and flipping through to scan the notes only to freeze when he read the last one, just below the final sentence. Mick had stared at it for a few more moments before looking up, eyes vulnerable in a way that he usually hid.

“You really want to know?”

Leonard smiled. “Have I ever lied to you?” When Mick shook his head, Leonard raised an eyebrow at him. “Then you know I do.”

When Mick ducked his head and moved towards his seat, Leonard pretended not to see the pleased smile on his face.

~*~*~

“Hey, boss, check it out!”

Leonard gave Mick a pointed look even as he took the paper that Mick held out. “How many times am I going to have to tell you not to call me that?”

“At least one more,” Mick shot back, not bothering to hide his grin. Leonard shot him a quick smile in return before looking down at the paper.

Mick’s story. Leonard ticked his eyes up to gauge Mick’s mood before he flipped to the final page, smiling when he saw the grade and the comment written under it.

_A_

_Mick—I’m glad you went with an open ending. Gives me hope you’ll tell us what happens next!_

“Good job, Mick,” Leonard said.

“That’s just the first draft. I haven’t gotten the one with your comments and the revised version I did after that back yet.”

“Seems to me that if you got an A on the first draft, that’s a good sign.”

Mick shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I didn’t go in the right direction and I get a lower grade on the next one.”

“Maybe you don’t,” Leonard replied. “And if you do, you just keep working on it, right?”

“That’s what Ms. Lance says too. First drafts are never perfect and sometimes the second one isn’t either. So you just keep going.”

It wasn’t the first time that Mick had mentioned Ms. Lance and advice she’d given and Leonard couldn’t help but wonder if this was going to be like the crush he’d developed on his 9th grade science teacher, Ms. Jiwe. Not that Leonard was supposed to know about that but the kid had been a bit obvious.

“Seems like she’d know what she’s talking about,” Leonard said, handing Mick’s story back to him. “Maybe you should listen to her.”

Mick stared down at the _A_ and nodded. “Yeah.” He looked up. “Hey, Saturday is still happening right?”

Leonard thought of the tech convention he’d promised to take his advanced class to. “Of course it is. You’re still able to go?”

Mick nodded. “Yeah, I just...” He shifted, looking a bit nervously. “We’re probably going to want to split up once we get there. You know Haircut, he won’t be able to resist and some of the geek squad will want to go with him. So I figured, maybe we could ask another teacher to go?”

Leonard studied Mick, taking in his words and trying not to laugh at his description of Ray Palmer, Cisco Ramon, Felicity Smoak, and Curtis Holt. (Or as Leonard liked to think of all of them—except Felicity—the ones that forget common sense exists and will be the reason he develops a drinking problem one day.) “It’s not a school outing so we can take another adult but it doesn’t necessarily have to be a teacher. It can be just any other adult.” He waited to see Mick’s reaction and, sure enough, there’d been a slight flinch at the words. “But if there’s someone specific you had in mind, we can ask them.”

“Really?” Mick’s eyes shot up to meet Leonard’s and Leonard wished he could punch the kid’s foster parents when he saw the disbelief there over such a simple thing. 

“Really. Who did you have in mind?”

“I thought, well, I thought we could ask Ms. Lance,” Mick said. He gestured to where Caitlin Snow was putting in time for one of her projects. “You know that thing that Caitlin’s working on? Combining biology and technology? She finished her lit work early and started working on that and when Ms. Lance saw her having some trouble, she helped her out.” He shrugged. “So, I mean, she’s not an engineer or anything but she knows enough that she wouldn’t be bored I think.”

Something in Mick’s voice made Leonard realize that he’d been on the wrong track thinking that Mick had a crush on his newest teacher. No, the kid liked Caitlin Snow. Which meant that Ms. Lance had managed, in just a couple of months, to become someone that Mick had begun to trust.

“I’ll ask her,” he promised.

Mick grinned and Leonard made a note to go see Ms. Lance after classes. He was curious now about the woman that Mick seemed to have become attached to in such a short time.

~*~*~

Leonard paused in the doorway, studying the blonde in front of him for a moment before he reached out and knocked on the door. She turned, a slightly puzzled smile appearing when she saw him, and Leonard blinked when he met her eyes, sucking in a breath, because he’d never seen eyes that blue before. Rather than acknowledge that particular thought, he offered her a slight smile.

“Ms. Lance?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s me. Can I help you?” she asked.

“I’m Leonard Snart. I teach a couple of the engineering classes,” he said, taking a step in to the room.

Her smile changed from puzzled to welcoming. “Oh! Yes, Mick and a few of the other kids have mentioned you. It’s nice to meet you.” She moved forward and held out a hand. “I’m Sara Lance.”

Leonard took her hand, somehow unsurprised by the firm grip. “Likewise.” He glanced at the room, taking in the computers lining the room in a U-shape and the tables in the middle. “Do you mind if I...” He gestured at the tables.

Ms. Lance stepped to the side. “Not at all.”

Rather than sit at the table, he leaned against the end, facing her desk. Rather than sit behind her desk, she mirrored his position and leaned against it, facing him. 

“So, how can I help you, Mr. Snart?”

Leonard grinned for a moment. “To start, you can call me Leonard.”

“Then call me Sara,” she replied with a grin of her own. 

“Sara,” Leonard acknowledged. “I’m actually here because of Mick.”

Sara’s eyes sharpened and Leonard’s estimation of her went up. “Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing wrong,” he assured her. “Actually, I’m taking the kids to this tech convention on Saturday and Mick asked if we could invite you. Apparently he overheard you helping Caitlin out and he thought you’d be able to keep up if the group decided to split up.”

She looked a mixture of touched and pleased at the admission. “And is it okay with you if I go?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

Sara smiled slightly and tilted her head. “But are you here simply because it’s what Mick wants or are you actually okay with it?”

Leonard smiled in appreciation. She didn’t dance around the subject, that was for sure. “When I first heard you had been hired, I decided to keep a closer eye on Mick,” he confessed. He nodded at the flash of understanding in her eyes. “He likes the arts more than he likes engineering and I wasn’t sure how you were going to work out. There have been other teachers in the past that didn’t look past what Mick lets people see. I didn’t want someone like that coming in and ruining this for him.” He paused for a moment and then let out a breath. “Instead, I can’t tell you how often I’ve heard him say ‘Ms. Lance says’ followed by something you’ve told them about writing or whatever book you happen to be studying.”

Sara smiled brightly at that. “Yeah?” she asked. 

He nodded, his own smile growing just a bit. He understood exactly how she felt. It was a hell of a feeling knowing that you were getting through to a kid and that they actually enjoyed your class. “Yeah. And just now, your first instinct was to ask me if something was wrong when I brought up Mick. Tells me you’ve pieced together a few things yourself. More importantly, the fact that you got Mick to let someone else read his work and that he actually asked for you specifically tells me all I need to know. So, yeah, I’m okay with you going.”

She studied him for a moment and then nodded. “Then I’d love to go.”

“I’ll send you the details.”


	15. Legends of Tomorrow: Sara ends up in the past after the team's been killed (Captain Canary)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the title of this chapter gives you a very good idea of what this fic will be about. I mean, with this fandom, there's obviously time travel. But this will be Sara accidentally ending up in her past body after Damien and Nora Darhk have killed her team. Once she makes the first change, she keeps going and it's going to lead to her and Leonard meeting up sooner than they originally did. This was longer but I ended up scrapping the original beginning so this is the start of the rewrite.

Sara fought for breath as she looked around her, regretting every choice that had led to this moment. The only consolation that she had was the fact that she’d managed to get Amaya back to her time and Leo back to his Earth. Not that it’d been easy. She’d reached out to Kuasa to get Amaya to safety and she didn’t regret it. The moment the woman had heard that Damien Darhk had started picking off members of their team, she’d agreed to get Amaya back to the 1940s safely. Sara wasn’t sure how she was doing it but she knew that Darhk wouldn’t be expecting that. He’d be waiting for signs that the Waverider had gone back instead.

He’d never find them.

With Leo, she’d simply landed back in Central City 2018. And because there was no version of Leonard Snart out there that wasn’t able to read her, he’d known exactly why they had landed during that time.

_“Getting rid of me, Captain Lance?” Leo asked, giving her a knowing smirk._

_Sara didn’t smile. “I promised to get you back to your Earth. Back to your Ray.” She took a deep breath. “If you stay with us, I’m not going to be able to keep that promise.” She paused and then allowed herself to give him a small smile. “And I don’t like breaking promises to my friends.”_

_A matching smile appeared on his face for a moment. It had taken multiple missions and a number of talks for them to get to the point where they could laugh and joke like old friends but he didn’t regret it. He’d joined the team partly because he’d been looking to get closure over losing the Mick on his Earth. He had, as cheesy as it sounded, gained an entire family in the process, Earth-1 Mick and Sara being the two that he’d become closest to, something he apparently shared with Earth-1 Leonard._

_The smile disappeared from his face as he thought of what they’d be facing once he left. “Come with me,” he said._

_She sucked in a breath. “What?”_

_“I hate thinking of losing any of you, Sara,” he said, switching to her first name. “Grab the team, the ship, and come with me.” His lips twitched up in to a wry smile. “It’s no paradise but Darhk won’t find you there.”_

_It was tempting. After all, it wasn’t as if they’d be the first Earth-1 transplants. But Sara couldn’t do it. She had to see if there was even the slightest chance she could stop Darhk. After a few moments, she shook her head._

_“I can’t,” she said. “But I won’t stop anyone else that wants to go.”_

_“Sara—“_

_“Leo,” she interrupted softly, looking up at him. He let out a breath and closed his eyes in resignation._

_“I’m going to be pissed off at you if you die,” he told her, voice strained from the effort of keeping his emotions in check._

_“Yeah, that’d be my luck,” Sara quipped. She became serious and let out a breath. “I’ll be as careful as I can.” It was the most she’d be able to give him and they both knew it. “I promise.”_

_Leo shook his head, stomach twisting with nerves as he pulled her in to a hug, unable to shake the feeling that this was going to be the last time he ever saw her._

Leo had gone back to his Earth and though Sara had told the rest of the team that they could also go, they were all much more stubborn than that and had refused. She’d known as soon as she’d looked at Leo that he had been expecting their answers.

The only way the team would be leaving their Earth was if they did it with their captain. It had both warmed and worried her at the same time.


End file.
